Harry Potter and The Armor of God
by Tepheris
Summary: Not willing to bear with their nephew's "freakishness" after a spurt of accidental magic causes Ripper's teeth to fall out, the Dursleys abandon him in the woods by The Kilns in Headington, Oxford. Harry Potter is taken in by the Magi of Ephesus, a group of Christians capable of performing miracles. AU in order to make the series Christian-friendly. GodFearing! NOT GodLike!Harry
1. Foreward, Disclaimer, and Prologue

**Foreword, Disclaimer, and Terms of Reviews**

Do not own the rights to Harry Potter and any related materials.

It is owned by JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, and Warner Bros.

Support the Official Release!

CS Lewis' estate still owns all rights to Uncle Jack's collected works.

Long waits between updates will likely be the rule and not the exception.

Any expressions of Christian doctrine should be thought of as the author's.

I receive no remuneration for this story that is in violation of any laws.

Mistakes or contradictions in the Harry Potter universe are the author's doing, intentional or not.  
Entertainment is the primary purpose of this fanfic.

Reviews are most welcome. Flames are sadly expected, and increase the review count all the same.

Some credits that didn't fit into the acrostic poem:

Zatch Bell!/Konjiki no Gash! is owned by Makoto Raiku.  
Rurouni Kenshin is owned by Nobuhiro Watsukii.

The Adventures of Merlin is owned by Shine Limited, Shine Group, and Distributed by FrematleMedia.

This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness is owned by Frank E. Peretti.

This fanfic is written as an attempt to make a form of the Harry Potter series palatable to other Christians and as a response to the disturbing popularity of slash fanfiction in the Harry Potter fandom. If you are offended by the doctrines of Christianity, you will probably want to find a different story immediately. If not, then feel free to skip down to the actual Prologue unless you're interested in getting a little background into why I'm writing this story. My mom has brought to my attention the high possibility that this Foreword may discourage anyone from picking up the story.

By clicking 'Post Review As' at the bottom of this page and any page of this story you will be assumed to confirm you have read this disclaimer, that you understand that this story is intended for Christian audiences (or at least readers who are not offended by expressions of Christian doctrines), and you agree to be bound to the following terms and conditions:

The author is given carte blanche to use the content of your review as dialog for characters in this story who share similar anti-Christian sentiments and opinions.

Okay, are those folks gone? Just the odd one already typing up a flame? Okay, now we can begin with the explanation of the changes the Harry Potter universe you should probably be aware of.

One of the reasons why certain Christians (myself and my family not among them) will not even read JK Rowling's best-selling series is that, in the real world, any magic of the kind depicted in Harry Potter would only be possible through the supernatural. Since God doesn't perform miracles on demand, and as nearly all magic in Harry Potter is done willfully, the devil and his followers would be the driving force behind the magic. (Just to be clear and to take some possible ammunition out of the hands of potential detractors, sleight of hand, misdirection, special effects, smoke and mirrors, optical illusions, escape tricks, wires, magnets, and any other means that stage magicians and entertainers employ are strictly natural means, and thus not inherently sinful. That being said —)

Whether or not a supernatural act prompted by mortals as good or evil is all about intention: 1) Your intention of what the result should be, AND 2) Your intention of the source to provide the supernatural act. Sadly, by this standard there are only three examples of magic in Harry Potter canon I can think of off the top of my head that would not be sinful if judged by real-world standards. All three are cases of Accidental Magic, which allows us the leeway to assume that, so long as Harry or Neville weren't thinking "I want [insert false god/goddess/demon here] to help me", we can mostly eliminate the second criteria from the equation, as by definition of Accidental Magic, they occurred without conscious effort. The two cases of Harry Potter using Accidental Magic that cannot be judged as sinful are when Harry grew his hair back after receiving a dreadful haircut from Petunia Dursley and the time he Apparated onto the school roof when chased by Dudley and his gang. The third case was Neville Longbottom using Accidental Magic to bounce after being dropped out of a window by his uncle Algie.

If God has blessed you with the ability to read on to the actual content of this first chapter, you will notice me establishing "magic" as a morally neutral force. To reiterate, this is not the case in real life. and in defense of the Christians who take their faith to the length that they will not read the Harry Potter series, the only times where magic used would not be sinful are cases of Accidental Magic.

Though my family all thoroughly enjoyed the Harry Potter series, I wanted to write a story where I didn't have to put my faith to the side in order to not think of the good guys as receiving their abilities from the powers of darkness. That said, it's about time I get to the actual storytelling.

 **Harry Potter and the Armor of God**

D is for Don't own Harry Potter, some of the best books of all time.

It is the work of JK Rowling, not mine.

S is for Support the Official Release!

C is for Comment on my stories, please.

L is for Likely updates won't come sooner, but later,

A is for All rights reserved by a work's creator.

If you recognize something, it's not mine, I confess,

M is for Money for writing this, which I will never possess.

E is for Enjoy my story and have fun,

R is for Read on, it's time we've begun!

 **Prologue**

 **Location:** Hell's Embassy, Outside the Pearly Gates of the Kingdom of Heaven

 **Time as Known to Mortals:** March 15th, 313 AD

It was once again the time when all the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, fallen and faithful alike. There was, as always, considerable grumbling from the Rebels about why they had to go through this every day before time could continue to flow in the mortal realm.

It wasn't as if the One who commanded they perform this ritual of giving reports when He already knew more than the demons giving reports did about anything and everything that came up. The Powers of Darkness were even allowed to lie by omission in their reports.

However, the Infernal Legions were noticeably less irritable than usual this time around. In fact, some of the Princes of Darkness could be caught giving the spiritual equivalent of smirks that were wont to appear whenever the demons had come up with a new plan they felt was sure to secure thousands of mortal souls to share in their torment. The last time the angels of Heaven had observed their fallen brethren in such high spirits was 93 mortal years ago with the formation of Manichaean Gnosticism. After the billions of celestial beings had delivered the report of their actions during the previous 24 hours in the mortal world, it was time for the fallen angels to present their appeals and proposals, though 99.9999% of the demons were escorted out of the place closest to heaven they were allowed to dwell. The demons grumbled about it, but it was actually for their own good. Corrupted as their natures had become, only the 0.0001% that remained were powerful enough to survive the prolonged exposure to their Creator's presence. Hell was in many ways more painful, but it was a pain they had become accustomed to and bear, if only because they had no choice (none that they were willing to make, at least) in enduring it. It had become second nature. The sheer undiluted glory and goodness was not something they could ever become accustomed to. But the fallen angels were only required to show up to give their report, and then they were free to leave. Most just grudgingly stuck around because as long as they didn't provoke the wrath of the LORD of LORDs, the Embassy was the most comfortable place they were permitted to reside.

Normally the fallen angel known to mortals by various names, the current most prominent being Hermes, Mercury and Thoth, who among other things had settled into the position as spokes-demon for several centuries mortal time, would come forward. Of course, had these meetings been constrained to mortal means, even if each report would only take a minute to deliver, each mortal day would be accompanied by easily two millennia. Thoth would have been in his position for over 200 million years. Mercifully, even the weakest of the celestial beings were capable of transmitting and processing information faster than Google's servers.

Still, to the angels, it was still quite a long time since a demon other than the one who inspired the plurality of supernatural entities mortals attributed to the first planet in the solar system had come forward to present an agenda item. What was even more peculiar was the fallen angel who came forth wasn't any of the fallen angels who would occasionally come before the Most High, usually asking for permission to tempt, torment, or terminate one of the saints beyond what was normally permitted.

The feminine fallen angel, who had discarded the name Gannanetel in favor of Unsere, was not one who would normally come forward directly in front of her Maker due to her chosen field of operations. In fact, she went so far as to deliver reports through one the very few fallen angels who had chosen to accept the consequences of their rebellion, grit their teeth and bear it, and not do anything to make things worse by influencing humans in ways that would lead them to share the eternal torment that was to separation from their Creator.

Unsere performed what would equate to a woman curtseying so low that they would be taller kneeling waiting to be recognized. There was some sneering from some of the other archdemons at the sickening display of subservience, even if it was appropriate in front of the Almighty and a matter of self-preservation to mitigate the righteous anger of the Sovereign LORD.

You may ask why Unsere, a being of such powerful that, fallen she may be, could crush an entire company of Angels with median power in combat, found the need to debase herself in front of hundreds of thousands of beings she detested with a burning passion fitting with one of the rulers of Hell. Simple, because of her chosen sphere of influence were the twin anathemas of fertility rites and sorcery, and she derived great and perverse pleasure from leading the Maker's beloved humans into committing abominations in the eyes of their Creator.

 **"You may share your proposal in the presence of your peers, pale shadow who was once Gannantel."** spoke the Almighty in a tone that lacked the usual disgust that usually accompanied addressing a fallen angels who had perverted their nature to such a degree. The demoness took this as a good sign, and would have made the spiritual equivalent of a smile if the weight of utter disappointment in her Creator's voice wasn't enough to make her want to find a nice comfortable black hole to hide in.

Unsere took a microsecond to compose herself before she proceeded. "My good friend Azlyn was nice enough to warn me that with -" the demoness made a metaphysical wince "- The Way no longer being outlawed under Roman rule, I would be well advised to work with my sister Delepitoré, Mistress Hecate, and Baal-Berith to restructure the principles of witchcraft, or find another niche to secure my standings. After taking some time to compute the variables and constants, I too foresaw a future where I was marginalized to the point where some of those inferior to me in both power and intellect were given superior status to me. Surely this was not how You meant for matters to be when You made me so perfectly that even now, a mortal would perceive me more glorious than some of my former family who were too timid to assert their independence."

 **"I'd thank you kindly not to call me Shirley. Even calling me Yeshua is far too informal."** The language spoken by all sentient beings was a glorious thing. Even though it wasn't actually English, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Mandarin, or indeed any language spoken by mortals since the Tower of Babel, all the plays on words present in all languages ever spoken were maintained [1].

Unsere couldn't suppress a spiritual groan. Apparently the Ancient of Days was in a humorous mood. While that was a good sign for the chances of their proposal, damn if it didn't grate on her nerves. "If You're going to bring word-play into this exchange, this is going to take forever. Are you going to let me present the proposal, or can we skip that for once since You already know what I have to say and how it will pan out if you permit it?"

 **"Very well, carry on."**

"As I have said, the legalization of - gack - The Way in the Roman Empire, I can only foresee massive losses in my department, so we decided a restructuring in order to maintain our relevance was in order. Unfortunately, our optimal solution does require Your approval, since the solution involves certain actions outside our jurisdiction."

 **"And what, for the benefit of my faithful children, do you propose?"**

"It's somewhat of a challenge as well as a proposal. Seeing as how Your followers no longer have to fear for their lives for their faith, we propose a new test. Mistress Astaroth in her capacity as Director of the Office of Budget and Management is rather pleased in that it requires less leeway than we currently do for pacts." Unsere presented the details of the proposal the Department of Magic had drafted. It caused a murmur amongst the loyal angels as they pondered over why their estranged relatives would be willing to allow mortals advanced access to the power contained in their soul[2].

"They aren't even claiming magic use as a sin in and of itself, just the intent and how the mortal conceptualizes the power coming from. Why… ?" mused one of the angels.

"I think I get it. They may not automatically have increased hold on the souls of magicians, but with this arrangement they wouldn't have to restrict themselves to the absolute idiots who give their souls and don't even gain the world. I know I shouldn't think this, but they're welcome to have those souls. This proposal sets up a system where magic could be used by anyone with a gene that will either be created or an existing gene modified to allow access to Internal Spiritual Power. I have to give our former siblings some grudging respect, it is a clever tactical maneuver on their part to extend access to Internal Spiritual Power to saints as well as the idolaters. I can see it has the potential to cause some strife within families when one displays signs that will be assumed to be activity from the Opposition. This certainly opens more opportunities than making a pact with their ilk to be given access to powers beyond a mortal's normal means. Until the invention and widespread use of the charcoal-potassium nitrate-sulfur mixture in warfare, this has the potential to shift the balance of military power in a way not seen since Israel and Judah were faithful," mused an angel who was even more powerful than Unsere, the second in command of the Archangel Gabriel's right hand Archangel.

At the words of one of the top Captains of the Host, a mild fight seemed to break out amongst the ranks of the fallen angels. A sigh of annoyance swept across the angels and demons who, while not knowing the precise nature, recognized the signs that someone had lost a bet and was trying to back out of the terms of the wager. It wasn't something that either side liked happening, The ranks parted to allow Michael (one of the handful of angels whose name was known with ontological certitude to mortal man) and the fallen angel that was in charge of maintaining the persona of Lucifer for The Devil and functioned as the Chief Justice of the Infernal Supreme Court (When a matter was serious enough to go to the Supreme Court of Hell but not dire enough for The Devil to oversee personally, this demon was the one to deal with the matter. The vast majority of such matters were when disputes happened between archdemons[3]) both moved to settle the dispute, both drawing metaphysical swords to display their power. The Archangel and Archangel-turned-Archdemon shot glares of grudging respect for the other's power before turning their glares on the two archdemons who had turned the digits of their hands into claws sharp enough to slice an electron neutrino from a atom in terms of precision and cut apart a black hole with raw power.

Those claws were retracted instantly the moment their owners saw the metaphysical blades able to leave painful wounds in immortal souls coming their way. For beings thousands of years old and truly powerful enough to be considered gods by mortal understanding, the two archdemons gave off the impression of children knowing they were about to be scolded for being caught fighting over a toy.

"Terms and stakes of the wager. Veguaniel, Volac," Lucifer spat in the hissing voice.

"Wager was on which of the opposition would figure out the objective of the plan, " the demon Volac was quick to announce, posture quickly straightening. "I was able to correctly divine it would be Tal[4] or another second in command to an Archangel directly under Gabriel. The stakes would be that the loser would forfeit an underling of the winner's choice of Viscount rank or below. Veguaniel is trying to back out."

"IF you had made such a bet with me, dear Volac, my pigsnie, you should have known better than to make a wager with one so clearly your superior such as I. Ours is a vicious existence, dear nephew, unless you have support from an even higher power, even Occamy shouldn't attempt to vie with dragons." Veguaniel retorted.

"And that's why I made sure to bring this up where two beings even our Father Below couldn't afford to hold back against in single combat." Volac retorted with a sneer.

Veguaniel's formerly condescending countenance shifted. "Oh, well played, my poppet. I confess, I didn't think you had the chutzpah to weather the wrath of the higher powers just for another subordinate. But I suppose that's to be expected when the stakes are so much higher for you than for me. However, you were premature in your attempt to collect the forfeit. Brigadier General Tal did get most of the idea, but… well, unlike you, I'm not one to give the game away."

"If I may take a guess, Tal would have needed to explain why the proposal is going to be accepted to fulfill the wager. Seeing as there's always a Long Game being played, I'd say that this would be at least a partial culmination of past plans." Michael drawled, lips twitching upward when Veguaniel and Volac grudgingly inclined horned heads in acknowledgement. Michael turned his head toward the place where Tal and his fellow Captains of the Host sat. "I figure that Veguaniel is higher up on the Smite List than Volac, so any of you care to take a stab at what they're up to?"

[Author's Note: The Smite List is Heaven's less vulgarly named equivalent of a Shit List.]

A bookish angel promptly cleared his throat, looking up from the metaphysical copy of the demon's proposal and giving Veguaniel a sweet smile that rankled the ruler of Danlor. "Former Lieutenant General Gannanetel is likely to succeed in passing the Department of Witchcraft's proposal due to how they concede the right to masquerade as false gods in order to deceive mortals into thinking that acts of witchcraft are not the abomination in the eyes of the True God that they are. As far as Leeway goes, they are actually giving up enough that the Sovereign Lord in all fairness will probably refund some of it." The archerubim's[5] bright expression at having the opportunity to take Veguaniel down a few pegs became grim. "They are counting on the Sinful Nature and the corrupting influence of power to do their dirty work for them, and I fear that they will be highly successful. As for the Long Game, Tal, would you like to finish it?"

The veteran archseraph gave the celestial being's equivalent of a thankful nod. "Much obliged, M'natechael. I think most of us have figured out what trap in their Long Game has been triggered in this proposal. Though it was highly unlikely that they planned to forfeit their recruitment policy prior to having their ability to deceive the nations hindered, they took the calculated risk of spending a premium of their given Leeway in order to prevent critical losses to the number of sorcerers in their thrall. In turn, we had to concentrate our efforts to mitigate the damage. Those damn Artificial Soul[6] demonlings they whip up are pathetically easy to overcome, even a Lance Corporal with an emphasis on combat can single-handedly take down a battalion of those hell-spawn. But they are infuriatingly effective when employed for stalling tactics, particularly since the amount of power either side can unleash without express permission from the Sovereign LORD is exhaustively restricted." As powerful as angels had been created, they had trouble bringing even a thousandth of their power to bear without having to allocate more than half their power as a buffer to prevent spillover to the physical world. Even so, it was common practice to drive the enemy out of Earth's atmosphere into the vacuum of space where more of their power could be unleashed without the potential for collateral damage. Not that any would be allowed to have an impact other than occasional atmospheric disturbances, but the Almighty made sure to make His displeasure known for those who would have brought about the end of the world before the Appointed Time for the Day of Judgement if not for Divine Intervention.

"With those endless masses of Artifi-Souls able to stall for time, and the amassed numbers drawing our attention to the activities of the Department of Magic, they've had both time and demonpower to entrench and fortify their positions in other areas." Tal concluded grimly.

Tens of thousands of beings of phenomenal cosmic power turned their attention to the two archdemons that had started the disruption. Veguaniel was radiating bitterness that made some of the (relatively) weaker angels uncomfortable.

"By your disgraceful lack of control over your emotions Veguaniel, I trust between Captain Tal and Captain M'natechael, the rest of the nuances of this proposal has been sufficiently and accurately described?" the Archangel Michael inquired the archdemon who modified himself to become Archdemon level during third hour of every day.

"Indeed, General, you are correct." Volac chirped as cheerfully as a demon was capable of being when all Veguaniel did was give Michael the most hateful glare he dared without giving the Archangel justification to bury a metaphysical sword into his metaphysical gut. Volac turned a sneer to his superior in the Department of Witchcraft with a grin showing metaphysical teeth. "I'll have the documents transferring Comadiel to my command within a few peta-ticks[7] after "time in"."

"Enjoy your victory while it lists, little Volac. I'll have her back under my command within a mortal week." Veguaniel spat.

"Don't think your little stunt here will go unpunished. While I applaud your daring and cunning, Volac, you made us look weak and divided in front of the Opposition." Lucifer hissed, suddenly grabbing the much (relatively) weaker demon by the metaphysical chest. "If our leader agrees, I'll see your title of nobility knocked down to President." The Chief Justice of the Infernal Supreme Court turned a glare lit with the burning of a dying star to Veguaniel. "And as for you, I'll put in a recommendation that your peerage privileges be stripped down from King all the way to Earl. That ought to take you a few mortal centuries to regain and be a lesson to the others that even power and past loyalty will not save you from the consequences of insubordination!"

Lucifer barely caught the whirl of movement in time to move his sword in time to block the swing of Archangel Michael's metaphysical weapon. If supernovas didn't take place in the vacuum of space, and if the use of swords wasn't metaphorical, the clash would have been as loud as a sun exploding.

Lucifer scowled but grudgingly nodded in silent acknowledgement of the warning strike from Michael. A demon mentioning insubordination, rebellion, or anything similar to the actions of the Rebellion as something that needed discipline in the presence of one of the loyal Messengers of God, especially one charged by the LORD of LORDs with preserving justice like the Archangel Michael.

 **"Alright, that's enough. Now that everyone has had the chance to examine and understand the proposal, I will give you my verdict. While Tal's assessment is mostly accurate, those who would be lead astray by the appeal of supernatural power can be lead astray by more commonplace methods. There are those who would not repent even if someone from the dead were to appear. It is also true that many of those who lived in Tyre and Sidon would have repented if they had seen the miracles performed in Korazin and Bethsaida. Even with the depraved denizens of Sodom, enough of their people would have repented from their evil ways if they witnessed the miracles performed in Capernaum that they would not have been wiped from the face of the earth. So I accept your proposal and the challenge of granting select mortals access to a portion of the power and glory with which I created their souls. SO MOTE IT BE!"**

Author's Notes and Footnotes

1\. [Doctrine Warning! : This idea of language in heaven containing so many puns is solely an independent concept created by the author as a theory how eternity in heaven would keep from becoming boring. Mankind was created speaking a single language and lost that unity due to sin, so it stands to reason that everyone would speak the same language or at least be able to understand every language. However, there is no support one way or another of the idea that everyone in heaven would speak a single language configured so that almost every sentence is guaranteed to have a humorous double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, etcetera meaning. Just something I came up with when pondering eternity as a way to fend off the boredom that would seem inevitable.]

2\. [Doctrine Warning! : The author does not believe in any baloney about "becoming god" or the "Damn Nonsense" (CS Lewis' words, I just happen to love them) of pantheism. It is merely a logical assumption that as our souls are eternal, and an angel in the Bible says to the author, despite the angel's glory, he is only a fellow servant. Thus, it made sense that after Judgement Day, we wouldn't be that far below the angels in power and glory. And it's the easiest explanation where humans could get magic from without being beholden to demons, and angels aren't going to lend power in visible ways to unbelievers if their would be a chance that it would be confused for magic instead of Divine Intervention.]

3\. [No Scriptural basis behind this thought, just how this fictional universe rolls. Was inspired by several sites saying that Lucifer is a different being than The Devil.]

4\. [Tal, Guilo, Scion, Triskal, and all other characters from This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness are owned by Frank E. Peretti.]

5\. [To my knowledge, the concept of an "archerubim" is something I completely made up on April 15th of 2016. I know you're plenty intelligent to figure this out on your own, but it's a portmanteau of "Archangel" and "cherubim". In this story, there are Archangels and then there are archangels. Those I will dub "archangels", "archerubim", "archseraphim", and "archdemons" aren't in the same league as Archangels or Archdemons. ArchCherubim and Archseraphim however, are closer in power level to Archangels and Archdemons.]

6\. [Artificial Souls, or Artifi-Souls for short, created by archdemons, while not even a billionth as powerful as the weakest angel or demon created by the Almighty (indeed, even the immortal soul of a human would be more powerful than millions of Artifi-Souls), they could be created by the millions daily, and they possessed as much power as could be brought to bear by spiritual beings without causing a disturbance in the physical world. Even though they could be summarily slain simply with a single soul-smiting stroke of a sharp celestial steel sword, Artifi-Souls still took time to disperse and send scurrying back to Hell where they would reform to lick their wounds.]

7\. [In this universe, angels and demons when mortal time is resumed is measured in ticks, with a tick being less than a quadrillionth of a second.]


	2. Appendix Unicorn: Timeline

**Harry Potter and the Armor of God**

 **Appendix Unicorn: Important Events in this Alternate Universe**

 **2348 BC** The Flood. Merfolk first appear as a few dozen humans make a pact with demons to be able to survive The Flood. Continents drift apart.

 **2200 BC** Nimrod Founds Babylon

 **2197 BC** Tower of Babel. By now the continents are separated to such an extent that travel between them is scarcely possible for centuries (at least without witchcraft).

 **2195 BC** Nimrod Founds Nineveh

 **2100-1868 BC** Rephaites, ancestors of the modern day giants known to the wizarding world, first make deals with demons.

 **2000-1850 BC** Hags and Vampires originating from Sodom and Gomorrah first develop genes not found in baseline humanity through interaction with demons.

 **2000-1200 BC** Earliest estimation of Goblin divergence from baseline humanity. Historians trace the goblins as originating from demon-worshiping Hittites.

 **1743-1075 BC** Absolute earliest time ancestors of House-Elves develop genes not found in baseline humanity.

 **1408 BC** Earliest estimation of Veela divergence from baseline humanity. Attributed to the sorcerer Balaam's Prophecy regarding Moabite women.

 **1350-650 BC** Centaurs first appear as a number of horsemen in the Mediterranean make pacts with demons to "become one with their horses". Needless to say, they got more than they bargained for.

 **79** Zaccaria Innocenti causes Mount Vesuvius to erupt by casting Tanantellegra on the active volcano, killing 1500.

 **236** Diagon Dispensary established

 **313** The Edict of Milan makes Christianity legal in the Roman Empire. "Magic" becomes a genetically inheritable trait that can be used in God-pleasing ways, while before it was always sinful.

 **431** Council of Ephesus. Recognition that Christians can perform feats thought only possible with magic without sinning. The Four Categories of Spiritual Power are formalized. To distinguish Christians with Internal Spiritual Power from witches and wizards, the term "Magi of Ephesus" is coined, reflecting both its origins as a ruling from the Council of Ephesus and also the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus who burned their scrolls of magic totaling a sum worth 50,000 day's wages (see Acts 19).

 **570** Muhammad is born

 **632** Muhammad dies

 **650** Quran compiled

 **712** Shinto religion established

 **962** Broomsticks free of demonic influence are first used for transport

 **993** Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry founded

 **998** Christianization of Russia begins. Ragnuk the First, King of the Goblins finishes the sword commissioned by Godric Gryffindor. An unsuccessful attempt by the Goblins to steal the masterpiece back creates a resentment in the Goblins that continues to this day.

 **999** Inspired by the sword of Gryffindor, some goblins who converted to Christianity begin the continuous forging and development of a physical Sword of the Spirit and eventually physical anchors for the rest of the Armor of God, codenamed [redacted to prevent spoilers]

 **1013** Salazar Slytherin creates the Chamber of Secrets and abandons Hogwarts

 **1054** Great Schism between Eastern and Western churches formalized

 **October 14, 1066** Armand Malfoy's contributions to the Battle of Hastings causes William the Conqueror to reward the wizard with land in Willshire where Malfoy Manor was eventually established.

 **1068** Helena Ravenclaw stashes away the stolen legendary Diadem of Ravenclaw inside a tree in Albania. She is killed by the Bloody Baron in a murder-suicide.

 **1069** Rowena Ravenclaw passes away, her health having declined severely ever since the death of her daughter.

 **1095** Start of the Crusades, the most shameful period in the history of the Magi of Ephesus

 **1107** Virtually all broomsticks are by now enchanted using wizardry instead of being imbued with demonic power, despite still being very uncomfortable

 **July 12, 1214** Ignotus Peverell is born.

 **1256** The Deathly Hallows are created

 **1289** International Warlocks Convention takes place. Decree that any positive mentions of the Magi of Ephesus be replaced by mentions of "Technomancers", and that all instances of conflict between Wizardkind and the Magi of Ephesus be blamed on the later.

 **1294** Triwizard Tournament established

 **1296** A Manticore savages a person. The beast is able to escape capture and execution by wizards due to its ferocity, but is slain by a Magi of Ephesus wearing the Armor of God.

 **1320** Pope John XXII formalizes persecution of witchcraft. (Only called persecution because 95% of victims didn't have Internal Spiritual Power)

 **1325** Historical theory proposes the Sorting Hat of Hogwarts is stolen and substituted by a group of delinquent students.

 **1327** Nicholas Flamel is born

 **1334** The woman who became Perenelle Flamel is born

 **1340** The Black Death spreads throughout Europe, resulting in the deaths of between 30-60% of the Muggle population. Nicholas Malfoy uses the plague to cover up a killing spree. The Wizard's Council refuses to act, as the only testimony came from Magi of Ephesus.

 **1379** Elizabeth Smudgling wins title of "Supreme Dueller" after winning a renowned dueling tournament in Dartmoor with the Disarming Charm, which she is believed to have invented.

 **1402** Eloise Mintumble time traveling from 1899 spends 5 days in the past altering history. Surprisingly only 25 people are un-born, thanks to Magi of Ephesus containing the situation as soon as they were made aware.

 **1406** Azkaban is built by the insane Dark Wizard Ekrizidis, who summons demons into Inferi bodies, creating Dementors.

 **1407** The first septennial Wizarding Schools Potions Championship is held

 **1422** Lisette de Lapin is convicted of practising witchcraft by Parisian Muggles. However, she disappears from her prison cell the evening before her scheduled execution.

 **1474** Gringotts Wizarding Bank® is founded

 **1484** European witch-hunts start

 **October 31, 1492** Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington is executed on Halloween. Despite 45 strokes from the executioner's axe, the wizard's head remains attached, if only by the barest margin.

 **1500** The Leaky Cauldron built by Daisy Dodderidge

 **1504** A different version of _The Wizard and the Hopping Pot_ emerges among wizarding families. In this version, instead of punishing a wizard for not using his talents to help others, the Hopping Pot swallows up Muggle participants in witch hunts, torches, pitchforks, and all. Only after the wizard extorts the promise that he will be allowed to practice his arts with impunity does the Hopping Pot vomit up the Muggles, all the worse for wear.

 **1528** A Magi of Ephesus using the Armor of God slays the last known Basilisk of the time in the British Isles.

 **1531** Hogwarts Headmaster Fytherley Undercliffe, who was forced into retirement from the position when he became a Christian and welcomed into the Magi of Ephesus, dies.

 **1532** Unable to destroy Fytherley Undercliffe's portrait in the Hogwarts Headmaster's Office, the next Headteacher places a Muteness Curse on their predecessor's portrait. The portraits of other Headmasters and Headmistresses are charged to tell anyone inquiring as to the reason behind the (rather Dark) Curse that Undercliffe was tragically driven mad by the Magi of Ephesus before his passing and would only harass witches and wizards to forsake their magic.

 **July 16, 1544** Jarleth Hobart makes a public demonstration of his Levitation Charm, having leapt from the roof of his local church before a large crowd of wizards and remaining suspended in mid-air. The charm was cast on his clothes, however, and when the wizard removed them (as he believed they were making him heavy and impeding his movements in mid-air) he fell to the ground. A Magi of Ephesus who was a member of the church's congregation breaks the fall that would have broken sixteen bones.

 **1549** Christian Missions to Japan begin

 **1555** Peace of Augsburg ends religious wars in Germany

 **1556** Gunhilda of Gorsemoor is born

 **1581** Gunhilda of Gorsemoor makes a deal with the demon Marbas, disfiguring her into a One-Eyed Hump-Backed woman but gaining knowledge in causing and healing diseases beyond that of ordinary mortals of the time

 **1582** Christian Missions to China begin

 **1585** Gunhilda of Gorsemoor develops a cure for dragon pox

 **1588** English defeat the Spanish Armada

 **1602** Eldon Elsrickle robs the town of London blind using the Unlocking Charm, thus introducing it to Great Britain. Blagdon Blay invents the Anti-Alohomora Charm.

 **1612** Goblin Rebellion of takes place in the vicinity of Hogsmeade, the village serving as the wizard headquarters. Ralston Potter becomes a member of the Wizengamot.

 **1631** The Wizard's Council passes the Code of Wand Use, Clause Three of which makes any non-human carrying or using a wand a felony. Largely in response to the Goblin Rebellion of 1612.

 **1634** Havelock Sweeting, the foremost expert on unicorns (in the wizarding world, at least) of his time is born

 **1635** The Académie française des sorciers is founded

 **1637** Werewolf Code of Conduct is developed, in hopes that werewolves sign it. Unsurprisingly, none show up.

 **October 1637** Armando Dippet, future Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is born.

 **1639** Gunhilda of Gorsemoor's soul is claimed by Marbas

 **1654** Flourish and Blotts® established

 **January 1665** Johann Hoffman makes a prophecy

 **September 1, 1666** The Great Fire of London razes much of the city. While Muggles are lead to believe the fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane, the actual cause may have been a young Welsh Green Dragon kept in the basement of the house next door.

 **1672** Records dating this far back from the Department of Mysteries empirically demonstrate witches and wizards are born, not created

 **July 17, 1674** Isaac Watts is born

 **1675** Brutus Malfoy advocated the notion that witches and wizards who associate with Muggles lack magical talent, and have abilities no greater than Squibs. Ironically, a few such wizards were actually associating with Magi of Ephesus, who as a rule are granted more power than the average and median witch or wizard of a similar age.

 **1687** Sir Isaac Newton publishes _Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica_ , revolutionizing the powers of the Magi of Ephesus

 **1689** The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy is first signed. Wizards retreat into hiding and start forming "communities within a community".

 **1692** International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy passed

 **1693** Magical Congress of the United States of America first established

 **1705** Magi of Ephesus by now have separated themselves from the unbelievers also capable of wielding Internal Spiritual Power. While most of the Magi of Ephesus continue to exist in the Muggle world, converted witches and wizards go into hiding similar to wizarding communities.

 **1707** The Ministry of Magic replaces the Wizard's Council as the governing body of the magical community of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Ulrick Gamp is elected first Minister for Magic.

 **1709** Dragon breeding outlawed by the Warlock's Convention

 **1710** Havelock Sweeting dies of complications from trying to back out of a deal with the demon known as Amdusias.

 **1714** Modern plumbing installed in Hogwarts. Convinus Gaunt conceals the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets behind plumbing and a sink in the girl's bathroom. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry issues a 1714 Edict, establishing rules and regulations for weekend visits to Hogsmeade.

 **1717** The Cruciatus, Imperius and Killing Curses first classified as "Unforgivable"

 **1718** Damocles Rowle is elected Minister for Magic from a "tough on Muggles" campaign platform

 **1720** Minister for Magic Damocles Rowle turns Azkaban into the modern wizarding prison."

 **July 24, 1725** John Newton is born

 **1726** Minister for Magic Damocles Rowle is censured by the International Confederation of Wizards and forced to step down, abdicating the office to Perseus Parkinson

 **April 15, 1726** Sir Isaac Newton begins to develop the theory of gravitation, the understanding of which further improves the capability of the Magi of Ephesus.

 **1728** A. Webb Servicing Ltd.®, a company endorsed by the Ministry of Wands®, is established.

 **1729** _Muggles: Unchecked Nuisance or Untapped Resource?_ is written by Thomas Joseph Yaxley under the penname Solomon Legementon.

 **1733** Eldritch Diggory elected Minister for Magic

 **1741** Minister for Magic Eldritch Diggory is appalled at the conditions of Azkaban prison, and establishes a committee to look for a better solution. Dilys Derwent becomes Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 **September 18, 1743** Gideon Flatworthy, leader of the extremist anti-Muggle group Accionites, is crushed to death when he uses the Summoning Charm to summon cattle.

 **1747** Albert Boot is elected Minister for Magic to replace the deceased Eldritch Diggory, who died in office from dragon pox. The committee to improve the conditions for wizarding prisoners is dissolved without doing anything.

 **November 25, 1748** Isaac Watts passes away

 **1749** Magi of Ephesus and Benedictine monk Antoine Augustin Calmet publishes a manual for tracking and combating vampires, causing a breach in the International Statute of Secrecy.

 **1750** Each wizarding governing body will be responsible for the concealment, care and control of all magical beasts, beings, and spirits dwelling within its territory's borders. Should any such creature cause harm to, or draw the notice of, the Muggle community, that nation's wizarding governing body will be subject to discipline by the International Confederation of Wizards. —Clause 73, International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Gladrags Wizardwear® and 2nd Hand Brooms® are founded.

 **1752** Goblin Rebellion in Great Britain. Not handling the rebellion well, Albert Boot resigns. Basil Flack resigns from office after only two months as Minister for Magic after goblins ally with werewolves, the shortest term any Minister has served. Hesphaestus Gore, one of the earliest Aurors, is elected Minister for Magic and manages to put down the rebellions. Hesphaestus also renovates and reinforces Azkaban Prison by invoking the dem- hem hem – "god" he was named after.

 **1753** J. Pippin's Potions® established

 **1754** Angry supporters of a broom race between Aberdeen and Rome devastate the Coliseum. A huge breach of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy is avoided thanks to Orabella Nuttley giving the first public demonstration of the Mending Charm she invented.

 **1762** The deadly Scottish game Creaothceann is outlawed. Nicholas Flamel spotted at the opera in Paris.

 **1768** Dilys Derwent retires from her position as Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Tomes and Scrolls® founded.

 **1770** Maximilian Crowdy elected Minister for Magic

 **1772** Levina Monkstanley develops and uses the Wand-Lighting Charm for the first time.

 **1777** Several boxes of treasure are stored at the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

 **1779** John Newton publishes the much beloved hymn _Amazing Grace_.

 **1781** Porteus Knatchbull is elected Minister for Magic to replace the recently deceased Maximilian Crowdy.

 **1782** Prime Minister Lord North calls in Minister for Magic Knatchbull for assistance in dealing with King George III's mental illness. Rumours spread North believed in wizards, and he was voted out of office on a motion of no confidence.

 **1789** Unctuous Osbert elected Minister for Magic

 **1790** President Emily Rappaport enacts Rappaport's Law, total segregation between magic and non-magic communities in the United States by banning wizards and witches from marrying or befriending No-Majs, restricting them to interactions "necessary to perform daily activities."

 **1792** A Cockatrice escapes during a Triwizard Tournament and injures three judges

 **1796** Wand Repair® established

 **1798** Artemisia Lufkin elected Minister for Magic

 **1799** A Ukrainian Ironbelly carries off a Muggle sailing boat with no one on board

 **December 21, 1807** John Newton passes away

 **1811** Artemisia Lufkin replaced by Grogan Stump as Minister for Magic. The current definition of a being (any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws) is laid out by Minister Grogan Stump.

 **January 24, 1818** John Mason Neale is born

 **1819** Josephina Flint elected Minister for Magic

 **1820** Elliot Smethwyck invents the Cushioning Charm for broomsticks, finally bringing wizard-made broomsticks up to the level of comfort that demon-made broomsticks possess.

 **1824** _Why I Didn't Die When the Augurey Cried_ written by Gulliver Pokeby

 **1827** Ottaline Gambol elected Minister for Magic

 **September 13, 1827** Catherine Winkworth is born

 **1835** Radolphus Lestrange elected Minister for Magic

 **1841** Hortensia Milliphutt elected Minister for Magic

 **1849** Evangeline Orpington elected Minister for Magic

 **1852** Laverne de Montmorency starts to develop a number of Love Potions

 **1854** F. Lestrange stores several boxes of treasure at the family vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank®.

 **1855** Evangeline Orpington's term as Minister for Magic ends, Priscilla Dupont elected Minister for Magic.

 **February 17, 1858** Priscilla Dupont forced to step down as Minister for Magic after she developed an irrational loathing of the Muggle Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, to an extent that caused trouble such as coins turning to frogspawn in his coat pockets, etc

 **1858** Dugald McPhail elected Minister for Magic. Squib Angus Buchanan goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a first-year. He becomes the first and only Squib in history to try on the Sorting Hat, who announced he was "a good-hearted chap. Maybe not a wizard, but he could make one brilliant Magi of Ephesus."

 **1859** William Stuart Baring-Gould, noted _Sherlock Holmes_ scholar and grandson of Sabine Baring-Gould is born. Charles Darwin publishes _Origin of Species_

 **1864** Several boxes of treasure are stored at the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank®

 **1865** _The Book of Were-Wolves_ is written by Sabine Baring-Gould. The useful parts detailing how to neutralize and possibly cure lycanthropy and anything pointing towards the concrete existence of werewolves, however, is forcefully redacted by the Ministry of Magic. The Knight Bus is first put into operation. Faris Spavin elected Minister for Magic. The shop Borgin and Burkes® in Knockturn Alley is established. The Ministry of Magic agrees to leave Gringotts® entirely in Goblin control.

 **1866** Part 1 of _Curious Myths of the Middle Ages_ is written by Sabine Baring-Gould. While not forcibly censored like _The Book of Were-Wolves_ , all copies are jinxed so that Muggles won't be able to read the sensitive portions.

 **August 6, 1866** John Mason Neale passes away

 **1867** The last time a Hogwarts student found the secret room behind a stained-glass Hogwarts crest on the Training Grounds. Several boxes of treasure are stored at the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank®. McHavelock's Wizarding Headgear® is established.

 **1868** Part 2 of _Curious Myths of the Middle Ages_ is written by Sabine Baring-Gould. While not forcibly censored like _The Book of Were-Wolves_ , all copies are jinxed so that Muggles won't be able to read the sensitive portions.

 **1875** The Ministry of Magic passes the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery

 **1876** Hogwarts caretaker Rancorous Carpe devises an elaborate trap to capture and contain Peeves, the resident poltergeist. The trap fails and causes Peeves to come into possession of several dangerous weapons, which leads to an evacuation of the school. After three days, an agreement between Peeves and Headmistress Eupraxia Mole is reached, resulting in Peeves gaining new privileges.

 **1877** In August, the 393rd Quidditch World Cup takes place in the Ryn Desert, Kazakhstan. This Cup would be known to history as "The Tournament that Nobody Remembers": for some unknown reason, no one in the wizarding world could remember a single match of the whole tournament after it had ended (theories for what had transpired range from mass Memory Charms cast by the Goblin Liberation Front, at that time very active and attracting anarchist wizards, to a massive breakout of Cerebrumous Spattergroit, that causes memory loss and confusion). Tournament was re-staged the following year. The fact was a large fight broke out between several Magi of Ephesus and the witches and wizards. Everyone agreed that the event was best forgotten.

 **July 1, 1878** Catherine Winkworth passes away

 **1879** Elias Grimstone creates the Oakshaft 79™ broomstick

 **1880** Thomas Riddle (Sr.) is born

 **Summer 1881** Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore born

 **1882** Arthur Sullivan composes a tune for Sabine Baring-Gould's hymn _Onward Christian_ Soldiers written in 1865. Nietzsche declares "God is dead".

 **1889** Sir Herbert Varney, a London vampire, preys upon various women. He is stopped and killed in 1889 by a Magi of Ephesus. Wizardkind gives credit to a special squad from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

 **1892** Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore starts Hogwarts in Gryffindor House. Chudley Cannons win the League Cup of the British and Irish Quidditch League. Great Sasquatch Rebellion occurs in the state of Washington.

 **1895** Aberforth Dumbledore starts Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

 **1896** Last recorded time a student successfully cheated on their OWL exam.

 **November 29, 1898** C.S. Lewis is born

 **1899** Albus Dumbledore sits his N.E.W.T.s and graduates from Hogwarts in a blaze of glory: Head Boy, Winner of the Barnabus Finkley Prize for Exceptional Spell-Casting, British Youth Representative to the Wizengamot, Gold Medal-Winner for Ground-Breaking Contribution to the International Alchemical Conference in Cairo. Later in the summer, Dumbledore has short-lived friendship with Gellert Grindelwald. Ariana Dumbledore is accidentally killed as the result of a three-way duel between the two Dumbledore brothers and Grindelwald.

 **1900** Angus Buchanan publishes _My Life As A Squib_ , which instantly becomes a worldwide bestseller, bringing the plight of the Squibs to the wizarding world's attention.

 **1901** The Moontrimmer™ broom is created by Gladys Boothby. Minister for Magic Faris Spavin, aged 145, attends the Queen of England's funeral wearing an admiral's hat and spats. In response, the Wizengamot gently suggests he step down as Minister for Magic.

 **1906** Faris Spavin retires from the post of Minister for Magic, succeeded by Venusia Crickerly

 **1907** Merope Gaunt is born

 **1908** Newton Scamander is sorted into Hufflepuff at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 **September 1911** C.S. Lewis begins his involvement with the Occult and atheism

 **1912** Minister for Magic Venusia Crickerly dies in a freak Mandrake-related accident. Archer Evermonde elected Minister.

 **1913** Henry Potter becomes a member of the Wizengamot.

 **1914** First World War begins

 **1915** Minister for Magic Archer Evermonde passes emergency legislation preventing wizards from taking part in World War I. While Muggleborns are expected to serve if drafted, witches and wizards born in the wizarding world are ordered to stay out in order to avoid massive breaches of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Good hearted and/or patriotic witches and wizards largely disregard this, though are careful to be discreet when they provided magical assistance. Wizengamot member Henry Potter openly condemns the Minister for this policy, citing both the double standard how Magical Self-Defence Laws would permit drafted wizards to use magic openly when in mortal danger. Newton Scamander expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He works for the Ministry of Magic in the Office for House-Elf Relocation for two years.

 **1917** Newton Scamander transfers to the Beast Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

 **April 15, 1918** C.S. Lewis is WIA in the Battle of Anas

 **1918** First World War ends. Augustus Worme offers to fund Newton Scamander for researching and writing a comprehensive magical bestiary

 **1921** End of Henry Potter's term in the Wizengamot.

 **1923** Lorcan McLaird elected Minister for Magic

 **1924** British Ministry of Magic Passes Decree #157 of 1924, establishing Educational Decrees

 **1925** Hector Fawley elected Minister for Magic. Bob Ogden arrests Marvolo Gaunt and Morfin Gaunt. Marvolo sentenced to six months in Azkaban for assault of Ministry personnel, Morfin sentenced to three years for hexing Tom Riddle, Sr. Merope Gaunt marries a bewitched Tom Riddle Sr. in December.

 **1926** Bob, Bill, and Barnaby Ollerton establish the Cleansweep™ Broom Company

 **December 31, 1926** Merope Gaunt dies in giving birth to Tom Marvolo Riddle

 **1927** First edition of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ published

 **December 6, 1928** Rubeus Hagrid is born

 **1929** C.S. Lewis' involvement with the Occult ends. Randolph Keitch and Basil Horton create the Comet™ Trading Company. The first broom they produce is the Comet 140™.

 **October 11, 1930** C.S. Lewis moves to The Kilns

 **September 1931** C.S. Lewis re-converts to Christianity

 **1932** _The Pure-Blood Directory_ published by an anonymous author, presumably Cantankerus Nott. A rogue Common Welsh Green dragon attacks a group of sunbathers in Ilfracombe in Devon, England. The vacationing Toke wizarding family manages to subdue the attack and casts the most Memory Charms relating to a single incident in the 20th Century. Magus of Ephesus Dirk Pierce along with some Muggles avoid having a Memory Charm placed on them. Dirk Pierce in particular earns a nickname as "Dodgy Dirk" for being able to consistently avoid being Obliviated, and derives great amusement in telling Muggles that a "dirty great flying lizard" punctured his inflatable mattress whenever he senses a witch or wizard within earshot.

 **February 13, 1933** Jonathan Neale is born to a Muggle family with a proud record of military service.

 **November 4, 1935** Minerva McGonagall is born

 **1935** Jocunda Sykes makes the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean using a non-demonic broom

 **1937** William Stuart Baring-Gould marries Squib Lucile "Ceil" Marguerite Moody

 **1938** Tom Marvolo Riddle is Sorted into Slytherin

 **January 5, 1939** Hosea "José" Baring-Gould is born

 **1939** World War II begins. Minister for Magic Hector Fawley kicked out of office after failing to satisfactorily addressing the problem of Gellert Grindelwald and is replaced by Leonard Spencer-Moon, who in contrast to Minister Archer Evermonde's policy in World War I maintained a good working relationship with Winston Churchill. Minister Spencer-Moon has the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to open training seminars on how to use magic in the presence of Muggles without their noticing, called the 'Upstanding Citizen's Workshop'.

 **1940** Rubeus Hagrid starts Hogwarts. Grindelwald's Revolution begins. Tinderblast™ broomstick released by Ellerby and Spudmore®.

 **1941** Cuthbert Binns secretly starts on a project, the details of which are redacted to prevent spoilers.

 **May 15, 1941** Pomona Sprout is born

 **1942** The International Confederation of Wizards forces the British Ministry of Magic's "Outstanding Citizen's Workshops" for all but wizards who are drafted into the British Army, declaring that a wizarding government that attempts to funds attempts of its citizens to break the International Statute of WIzarding Secrecy will face devastating sanctions. However the Confederation does offer a wink-wink nudge-nudge loophole stating, "DMLE employees who teach individual witches and wizards ways to use magic in the presence of Muggles will likewise face severe consequences if they are caught". The underlined part was present in the official documents, or at least surviving copies.

 **1943** Tom Marvolo Riddle opens the Chamber of Secrets, directing Slytherin's basilisk to injure several students and kill Myrtle Warren. Riddle performs necromancy on Myrtle Warren's ghost, giving her the power to affect the physical world like a poltergeist but compelling her to drive people away from the bathroom and preventing her from disclosing the bathroom as the location of the Chamber of Secrets. He also creates his first horcrux. Hagrid framed for the attacks and is expelled.

 **Summer 1943** Tom Riddle murders his father and maternal grandparents in a ritual to create a second horcrux out of Marvolo Gaunt's Ring.

 **September 1944** Muggleborn Jonathan Neale is sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 **1945** Albus Dumbledore miraculously defeats Gellert Grindelwald in a duel near the end of World War II. Tom Marvolo Riddle graduates from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 **1946** Tom Riddle murders Hepzibah Smith, stealing artifacts of the Hogwarts founders Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin.

 **May 5, 1947** Hosea "José" Baring-Gould survives an attack from a werewolf, but is infected with lycanthropy.

 **August 31, 1947** Hosea "José" Baring-Gould is cured of lycanthropy by his mother Lucile and other Magi of Ephesus after managing to track down an unaltered copy of _The Book of Were-Wolves_.

 **1947** _A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshot first published. Werewolf Register introduced.

 **1948** Wilhelmina Tuft elected Minister for Magic

 **November 30, 1949** Molly Prewett is born

 **February 6, 1950** Arthur Weasley is born

 **1951** Muggleborn Jonathan Neale is drafted into the British Army for the Korean War. Rita Skeeter and Bellatrix Black are born.

 **1952** The first edition of _Quidditch Through the Ages_ is published. The Swiftstick™ racing broom is released by Ellerby and Spudmore®. Jonathan Neale, after having been able to use magic without being noticed so far in the war, is finally outed as a wizard. To his surprise instead of facing heat for being a wizard, the worst he faces is ridicule for not telling a superior officer sooner so that he could "be placed where he could make a real difference" in a special, covert subsection of the SAS (Special Air Service) also called the SAS (Saints and Sorcerers), consisting of both wizards and Magi of Ephesus. Neal's superior officer and Magi of Ephesus, Lieutenant Colonel Justin Baker takes a demonic curse for him. Baker's last words: "No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13 Darby) sets John Neale's path to conversion and becoming one of the Magi of Ephesus.

 **1954** Seventh-year Minerva McGonagall has a nasty fall during the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match as a result of Slytherin captain Jo King secretly invoking a demon, which would decide the Quidditch Cup winner, which leaves her with a concussion, several broken ribs, and a lifelong desire to see Slytherin crushed on the Quidditch pitch. After graduating with top grades on her N.E.W.T.s, Minerva McGonagall starts working for the Ministry of Magic under Elphinstone Urquart. Lucius Malfoy and Quirinus Quirrell are born.

 **1955** Universal Brooms Ltd. releases the Shooting Star™. Narcissa Black is born.

 **September 1955** Muggleborn Marcus Newton is sorted into Ravenclaw at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 **1956** Minerva McGonagall becomes the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 **1957** Albus Dumbledore replaces Armando Dippet as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lord Voldemort makes an unsuccessful bid for the Defense Against the Dark Arts.

 **1958** Minerva McGonagall becomes Head of Gryffindor House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 **1959** Wilhelmina Tuft dies after eating Alihotsy-flavored fudge, which she was deathly allergic to. Her son Ignatius becomes her successor. Hope Howell marries Lyall Lupin. Sirius Black born.

 **1960** Severus Snape is born on January 9th. Lily Evans is born on January 30th. Remus Lupin is born on March 10th. James Potter is born on March 27th.

 **1961** C.S. Lewis develops kidney inflammation in June. Molly Prewett and Arthur Weasley are sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in September. Regulus Black is born.

 **1962** Nobby Leach becomes the first Muggleborn to be elected Minister for Magic after Ignatius Tuft is kicked out of office for proposing a Dementor breeding program. Bellatrix Black is sorted into Slytherin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Muggleborn Marcus Newton, Hogwarts Valedictorian, accepts a position as an apprentice Unspeakable, (called Untouchables since they are forbidden to touch anything and strictly only recharge charms and wards) at the Department of Mysteries.

 **November 22, 1963** C.S. Lewis is believed to have died from renal failure, the media coverage not as extensive or thorough as it might have been considering American President John F Kennedy is assassinated the same day.

 **1963** The Philosophy of the Mundane: Why the Muggles Prefer Not to Know by Professor Mordicus Egg is published by Dust  & Mildew

 **January 26, 1964** Gilderoy Lockhart is born

 **1964** Marcus Newton completes his apprenticeship at the Department of Mysteries and graduates from an Untouchable to an Unspeakable.

 **February 16, 1965** Remus Lupin acquires lycanthropy after being attacked by werewolf Fenrir Greyback as retaliation for his father Lyall's description of werewolves as "soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death."

 **1965** Newton Scamander's proposed Ban on Experimental Breeding is passed

 **1966** Matthew Watts is born to overly-open-minded but otherwise faithful Christian Muggles on July 21. Narcissa Black is sorted into Slytherin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in September.

 **September 1967** Muggleborn Lucretia Winkworth is sorted into Hufflepuff at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

 **1967** Nimbus Racing Broom Company® formed. Unspeakable Marcus Newton is given the Order of Merlin, Third Class for discovering new ways to make Magical Oaths. The Abortion Act of 1967 legalizes abortion in England, Scotland, and Wales.

 **1968** Nobby Leach resigns as Minister for Magic, following a mysterious illness (Abraxas Malfoy correctly believed to play a large hand in it, but insufficient evidence to prove it). Eugenia Jenkins replaces him as Minister. Hamish MacFarlan becomes Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett graduate.

 **1969** Rubeus Hagrid becomes Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Nobby Leach becomes the first Muggleborn to be elected Minister for Magic after Ignatius Tuft goes beyond the political capital his late mother's popularity when he attempts to increase the Dementor population. The "Outstanding Citizen Workshop" is modified into the "Procurer's Certification Course" after the British Ministry of Magic's appeal to the International Confederation of Wizards to allow them to collect and harvest fetuses for potions ingredients from Muggle abortions is granted on the condition that any "Procurers" are specially trained to not draw attention to their activities. Barty Crouch Jr. is born.

 **1970** First Wizarding War against Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters officially begins. The Whomping Willow planted and Shrieking Shack is built to accommodate Remus Lupin's lycanthropy. Barty Crouch, head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement, is overzealous in his efforts to combat Death Eaters and sends several people to Azkaban without trial.

 **1971** Sirius Black, Lily Evans, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter are sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Severus Snape is sorted into Slytherin.

 **1972** _Muggles Who Notice_ by Blenheim Stalk is published. Remus Lupin's friends James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew discover that he is a werewolf, and resolve to learn to become animagi. Charlie Weasley is born on December 12th.

 **1973** Ministry of Magic dismisses an appeal against house-elf slavery. Zephaniah "Zephy" the house-elf joins the Magi of Ephesus. Bartemius Crouch Jr. starts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 **1974** Muggleborn Lucretia Winkworth graduates Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and accepts a coveted apprenticeship at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

 **1975** Gilderoy Lockhart sorted into Ravenclaw, Remus Lupin becomes prefect. The Marauders minus Remus Lupin become Animagi. The Marauder's Map is Created. _Hairy Snout, Human Heart_ anonymously written by a friend of Hosea Baring-Gould is published by Whizz Hard Books. Lucretia Winkworth is baptised and becomes a Magi of Ephesus. Minister for Magic Eugenia Jenkins is replaced by Harold Minchum, made good on a campaign promises to beef up the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and get the Department of Mysteries focused on public defense.

 **November 1975** First Ministerial Management of Magical Muggle-Born Behavioural Observation - Act Number.792 limacalf is passed, making it so that The Trace would not be removed from a Muggle-Born's wand unless they have full time jobs in the wizarding world or go through a process to become a certified "non-Risk" using the guidelines of the "Procurer's Certification Test". Disgusted, Lucretia Winkworth surrenders her wand altogether and joins the Magi of Ephesus.

 **1976** Sirius Black runs away from home. The Potter family takes him in. Lily Evans breaks off her friendship with Severus Snape after the later called her a "Mudblood". Percy Weasley is born on August 22nd. Victor Krum is born between May and August. Penelope Clearwater is born.

 **1977** Muggleborn Matt Watts is sorted into Ravenclaw at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sirius Black moves out of the Potter's home after inheriting enough money from his uncle Alphard Black to get his own place. Fleur Delacour is born. Cedric Diggory is born in September or October. Angelina Johnson is born in late October.

 **1978** Universal Brooms Ltd goes out of business. The year group containing the Marauders, Lily Evans, and Severus Snape graduate Hogwarts. Fred and George Weasley are born on April 1st.

 **1979** Lily Evans marries James Potter, with Sirius Black as best man. As revenge for annoying relatives of Death Eaters in school, Matthew Watt's parents are murdered, along with a victim given Polyjuice Potion to appear as Matt Watts. Matt Watts is forbidden from taking any inheritance, with the justification given that one of the few things Memory Charms aren't able to cover up are money trails and Death Certificates. Disgusted, Matt Watts vows to pursue advice from an unnaturally tall goblin had given him on his way out of Gringotts Wizarding Bank® when he unsuccessfully tried to find a way to receive his rightful inheritance. Peter Pettigrew starts to rat out the Order of the Phoenix to Voldemort. Hermione Granger is born September 19th. Regulus Black is murdered for betraying Voldemort. His father Orion Black passes away not long after. Newt Scamander is awarded Order of Merlin, Second Class. 800 Stink Pellets are detonated on the roof of the Daily Prophet building in Diagon Alley. Around 500 cases of "Stinkitus" were documented. Explained away to the Muggles as "an unpleasant emission from" a nearby factory.

 **1980** Professor Sybill Trelawney (under influence of an evil spirit) tells Albus Dumbledore a prophecy concerning a boy who will "bring light to the wizarding world". Then-Death Eater Severus Snape reports the overheard first two sentences of the prophecy to Voldemort. Alastor Moody arrests Igor Karkaroff who is sent to Azkaban. Millicent Bagnold is elected Minister for Magic. Evan Rosier and another Death Eater named Wilkes are slain in combat with Aurors. Ronald Weasley is born March 1st. Draco Malfoy is born June 5th. Dudley Dursley is born June 23rd. Neville Longbottom is born July 30th. Harry Potter is born July 31st.

 **October 31, 1981** Lord Voldemort enters Godric's Hollow with the intention of murdering Harry Potter. [Further details redacted to prevent spoilers]

 **November 1, 1981** Sirius Black framed and arrested for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and eleven Muggles. Sirius is sent to Azkaban without trial by order of Barty Crouch Sr., Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

 **1981** Frank and Alice Longbottom are committed to the wizarding hospital St. Mungo after their minds snap after being tortured by Barty Crouch Jr, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange. The four Death Eaters are arrested by a platoon of Aurors who entrust the custody of Neville Longbottom to his grandmother Augusta Longbottom. Horace Slughorn resigns from his post as Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Luna Lovegood is born Friday, February 13th. Ginny Weasley is born August 11th.

 **1982** Percy Weasley takes a rat he names Scabbers to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Igor Karkaroff's reduced sentence ends and is released from Azkaban. Ludo Bagman is cleared of suspicions of being a Death Eater. Barty Crouch Jr is smuggled out of Azkaban as a fulfilment of his late mother's last wish. Minerva McGonagall accepts Elphinstone Urquart's marriage proposal, but she keeps her maiden name. Gilderoy Lockhart graduates Hogwarts.

 **1984** Matt Watts graduates from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He sets out to find the people an unnaturally tall goblin suggested he seek meet five years prior.

 **1985** Elphinstone Urquart dies of poison from a Venomous Tentacula under dark and suspicious circumstances.


	3. Chapter 1

**Harry Potter and the Armor of God**

D is for Don't own Harry Potter, some of the best books of all time.

It is the work of JK Rowling, not mine.

S is for Support the Official Release!

C is for Comment on my stories, please.

L is for Likely updates won't come sooner, but later,

A is for All rights reserved by a work's creator.

If you recognize something, it's not mine, I confess,

M is for Money for writing this, which I will never possess.

E is for Enjoy my story and have fun,

R is for Read on, it's time we've begun!

Since this is being published on Memorial Day, I'd like to take this moment to ask my wonderful readers to pray for the family members of those in the Armed Forces who have sacrificed their lives to keep their country safe.

 **Chapter 1**

 **Verse for this Chapter** (taken majorly out of context): **2 Peter 1:21** [1]

 **Location:** Ritual Chambers, Floating Castle _Brocken Sentinel_ , Irish Sea

 **Time:** May 23, 1980

 _"The one who will bring the light of salvation to the wizarding world approaches. Born to those_ _who have thrice escaped the serpent's coils, born as the seventh month dies. And he shall be marked with the sign of the one who has overcome death, who will give him the power to overcome snakes and scorpions. Though the enemy will assail him, he will never be tested beyond what he can endure, for he will be guarded and protected by powers beyond belief. As the seventh month dies, born is one who will bring relief."_

Tom Marvolo Riddle, going by the moniker of Lord Voldemort, steepled his magically manicured fingers as he pondered the full prophecy partially overheard by Severus Snape, who was promptly rewarded with a position in his Inner Circle. Not that Voldemort didn't intend to do so eventually, Snape had extraordinary potential both on and off the battlefield. Overhearing the prophecy just gave Voldemort an excuse to promote the talented Half Blood into a position denied to Pure Bloods.

The wording of the prophecy Snape overheard was vague enough that Voldemort had thought he needed more information to act on. As large as his ego was, Voldemort didn't consider himself a threat to the wizarding world. At least, not to the ENTIRE wizarding world. Once he had conquered the magical United Kingdom, he intended to change his modus operandi to allow for the so-called "Mudbloods" to live in other countries if they would submit. By making an example out of those who had stronger ties to the Muggle world than the superior wizarding world in Britain, Muggleborns in other countries would be only to happy to submit if it would mean being spared the fate of their British counterparts. Tom Riddle didn't possess the same prejudices as the majority of his Pure Blood followers. He very much wanted to make the world one ruled by the obviously superior wizards as Gellert Grindelwald had proposed, it was just the way nature intended. And like Grindelwald, Lord Voldemort planned it for the Greater Good. Only, it wasn't wizards ruling the Muggles for their own good. When Voldemort had reunited the wizarding world, he would oversee the wizarding population slowly but surely overtake the Muggles as the majority of humans in the manner outlined by the genius TJ Yaxely in 1729.

So Voldemort wasn't as certain he would need to kill the subject of the prophecy as it might have been if the prophecy foretold 'one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord'. Indeed, doing so might actually result in a setback to his plans. Thus, Voldemort had determined he needed more information on the prophecy, the least of which would be the full wording of the prophecy. So he had summoned the spirit who reigned over his quinance of Capricorn, who happened to be a specialist in revealing Past, Present, and Future.

" **You were very wise to contact me, Tom.** **"** the being who had taken the form of a stunningly beautiful woman wearing black velvet robes trimmed with white gold thread and a Duchess' crown tied around her sinfully slender waist, reclined suggestively on a camel that somehow managed to look more majestic than even a unicorn. **"** **A colleague and superior of mine by the name of Vassago took possession of the pathetic woman and was prompted to make the prophecy. I am curious, just how did you manage to become aware of it? I know that the prophecy was given deep in the territory of your enemies.** **"** Gremory, the spirit in question, resisted the temptation to let the warlock see her temporary physical manifestation roll its eyes. As if she didn't know. Observing every millimeter of the planet simultaneously at a rate thousands of frames per second wasn't even 1% of what she did on a constant basis, but if humans knew just how absurdly out of their league they were in dealing with her ilk while they were mortal, none of them would try and make deals. For hell's sake, this meatbag's ego was offended when she called him by the name he gave her when she had first appeared to him. And he was such a delightfully eager collaborator, Gremory would face most unpleasant consequences if she managed to drive the man calling himself Voldemort from out of their direct influence.

Voldemort suppressed the urge to scowl at the spirit's use of his real name. He so wished his demonic allies would use his new chosen name. Tom Marvolo Riddle had spent his miserable years in the orphanage developing his skills with anagrams and the French language to come up with "I AM LORD VOLDEMORT", it hurt his feelings when people didn't use the name he had cleverly come up with.

Wait, what? How in Merlin's baggy trousers did you come up with the idea that Lord Voldemort, most powerful Dark practitioner of the millennium, was capable of being such a pansy?! Do you have a wish to be tortured into insanity or something? You will forget any such notions if you know what's good for you! The only thing that Lord Voldemort feels when people do not refer to him by his chosen moniker is burning, seething, murderous anger! Do we understand each other? Good. Then we can continue with the story.

"One of my subordinates, Severus Snape, happened to overhear the first two lines before Dumbledore's brother and the owner of the bar had thrown him out."

" **Ah, yes, Severus Snape. Quite the potential in that one. Pity that he doesn** **'** **t seek out the assistance of his guardian spirits. He could go so far.** **"** Gremory sighed with a shake of her head.

"Unfortunately, young Severus' mother had bad experiences with spirits due to lack of a properly prepared protective circle, and was cursed by having her nose twisted into a hook shape and her formerly silky dark hair turned greasy, which her son was unfortunate enough to inherit. Eileen Prince certainly wasn't any less attractive than the average witch when I graduated from Hogwarts, let alone less attractive than the average Muggle woman. So Severus is careful not to rely on the powers of beings from a higher plane beyond supplementing his own impressive natural abilities."

" **Ah, I can see it now. His Lordship, the Most Honorable Osiris was the one to inflict that punishment upon the witch arrogantly insisting that she be allowed to keep the attractiveness enhancements she was granted with the expectation that she use her charms to win over a young man we knew had the potential of being very inconvenient in the future. She failed to seduce him, but expected to at least keep the physical augmentation for her troubles. Osiris was not about to reward failure, so he revoked the magic that had kept her beautiful despite not taking care of her appearance, plus making her neglected hair permanently greasy and reshaping her nose. Stuck up twat was too indignant to owe Lord Osiris a small favor to have her appearance returned to normal.** **"**

"To be fair, it is never a good idea to owe a demon an unspecified favor, no matter how "small" it may be phrased to be." Voldemort responded with a smirk. "I will try and talk to young Severus about reconsidering establishing a relationship with entities of higher planes, but I won't be too pushy about it. My claim on his soul through the Dark Mark[1] will be considerably weakened if someone else has a stronger claim than one of mere allegiance. And from what I've gathered of the young man, he has an aversion to having to rely on others any more than absolutely necessary."

" **How inconveniently wise of him. Do at least introduce him to using tracing sigils with wand movements, nothing is expected of him in return save for acknowledging that his power is being multiplied by our kind… and perhaps passing them on to any apprentices he might have. Stirring a potion in the pattern of a sigil will increase the potency by an order of magnitude, and I foresee him being able to figure out which seals can be traced given the acceptable stirring methods."**

Voldemort promised to make Snape do as such if he had to place the young man under the Imperius Curse to do it. Severus Snape was one of the youngest persons to pass the H.A.W.K. exams for Potions Mastery, and that was all due to his own natural, unaugmented abilities. "So, how do you recommend I react to this prophecy, if I should take any action at all?"

(Author's Note: H.A.W.K. Highly Arcane Wizarding Knowledge ©Tepheris 2016)

Gremory appeared to bite her lip thoughtfully. **"** **As I said, you were very wise to seek guidance before acting. It is a very delicate scenario, and even my powers are unable to give a definitive verdict on how matters will unfold. We are hoping that by having given the prophecy, the wizards and witches who style themselves as** **'** **light** **'** **will think that the salvation the child of prophecy will bring is more in terms of getting rid of Dark Practitioners and reverse the current relationship between wizardkind and Muggles. But truthfully, the child of prophecy is likely to reveal the way to salvation as defined as -** **"** Gremory flinched as if struck and her ravishing features briefly contorted as if she had tasted and smelled things that made her wish to empty the contents of her stomach. **"** **\- the Enemy. From the wizarding world** **'** **s perspective, it would be more accurate to portray the child as prophecy as being likely to shake the very foundations of your society, and not in a favorable way.** **"**

Voldemort's eyebrows would have raised if he still had them. "If no one would want to have this accursed child realize his destiny, why is the prophecy worded in such a favorable manner?"

The Duchess scowled hatefully, her unearthly beauty fading for a brief instance and displaying the hellish anger that lay underneath the thin coating of sensual beauty. **"** **Contrary to how affairs may appear from your perspective, our kind has already lost the war with our Enemy. Sick** _ **naval**_ **probably gets off on letting us rule the majority of this world, knowing that it is only for a while before that** _ **mif**_ _ **'**_ _ **letzet**_ **takes away everything good from us. While we are largely free to operate as we please with those who aren** **'** **t under the Enemy** **'** **s protection, there is considerable restriction on what we can do to those who are under the protection of the opposition. The children of prophecy are going to be placed under strong protection if they live to see their christening.** **"**

"This does not explain why the prophecy had to be phrased as if it were something that would be welcomed by the wizarding world instead of accurately representing the kinds of changes the child of prophecy is anticipated to bring. Why not have the Trelawney woman tell things like they were?"

" **We thought about it, but doing so would have been required a major reallocation of forces not worth the setbacks we would face on other, more important fronts. And even if we did, the Enemy Sovereign would find another way. To be honest, I** **'** **m surprised we** **'** **ve been able to prevent the Enemy from raising an Apostle for this long. But by making the -** **"** Gremory's demeanor returned to the haughty and sensual expression Voldemort came to expect from a Duchess of Hell as her lips twitched upward. **"** **\- so-called** **"** **light** **"** **side think that the Enemy** **'** **s Apostle is meant to bring wizards and witches into a golden age, they** **'** **ll make a concerted effort to see that the prophesied meatbag is well grounded in your culture and rip out any hooks the Enemy may sink into them. Ideally we** **'** **d like to lead the meatbag into rejecting the Enemy and let him bring about the kind of outcome those of the** **"** **light** **"** **side thinks about when they hear the prophecy, but we would still be most grateful to anyone who could take out the child before he becomes a problem to both our kind.** **"**

"How grateful are we talking?" Voldemort asked, again lamenting his lack of eyebrows.

" **Enough that you would rush recklessly ahead without thought of the danger, Tom. Since your partnership with my kind has been so mutually beneficial, I must warn you that even while the meatbag is too young to wield magic personally. The Enemy will send protection that are only limited by how much the Enemy Sovereign restricts them to, and He has been known to literally move Heaven and Earth to protect his precious meatbag sycophants.** **"** Gremory's eyes narrowed as she read Voldemort's thoughts that maybe he had chosen the wrong side. While this was true, it was already too late for Tom, who would never repent for his wrongs. **"** **Now Tom, is this doubt my thanks for warning you of the dangers before the thoughts of the rewards banished all thoughts of drawbacks? Besides, I swear upon my magic and my soul that the Enemy would not accept you as you are, and you would not be willing to make yourself acceptable. May Heaven, Earth, and Hell strike me down and tear my soul asunder if I cannot say with anything less than ontological certitude that you will be happier siding with my kind than with the Enemy!** **"**

A wave of sheer power that resonated in the soul burst forth from Duchess Gremory as she invoked the most solemn of oaths known to mortals. While the demoness could have easily been lying and Voldemort would have been none the wiser, Gremory found it all the sweeter that she had told the truth. It was the greatest pleasure a fallen angel would have after Judgement to know that they had influenced a human into actually preferring eternal separation from their Creator to eternal life in paradise.

"I apologize for doubting you, Your Ladyship. My wavering must have come across as particularly ungrateful considering it is standard operating procedure for those of your ilk to hide the more unsavory aspects of an undertaking." Voldemort bowed his head briefly. Even a Dark Lord of his caliber would be foolish to not reciprocate the level of consideration that he was being shown. "The potential rewards must be great indeed if you were willing to be so candid regarding the risks."

" **Indeed, Tom. The last mortal who was able to complete a task of equivalent importance for my kin was rewarded quite handsomely indeed. Managing to terminate this Apostle is projected to involve a considerable deal more risk than back in 1364, so it is only fitting that the rewards be greater. Since you** **'** **ve worked with us in the past and already have part of what we gave that wizard, you will be compensated quite handsomely.** **"**

Gremory's "eyes" closed briefly and her lips twitched rapidly as if forming tens of thousands of words every second. After about six seconds, the Duchess of Hell opened her eyes and smirked at the mortal who had summoned her.

" **Oh, His Most Reverend Excellency and Infernal Worship Baal-Berith is feeling prepared to offer most generous compensation indeed. An upfront payment that you can keep regardless of success so long as you give the task of eliminating the Apostle the good old college try that you** **'** **re going to love, the secret of transmutation from the Chief Portion Steward, His Infernal Worship Dagon, and the ability to make so many Horcruxes that you could do nothing but create new ones non-stop for a century and not feel any side effects. Of course, that assumes you could find an enough suitably innocent souls as a sacrifice.** **"**

"Don't bullshit me. That would imply I could make thousands of Horcruxes. If not for the vastly superior Arithmantic properties of the number seven, I would have stopped at five due to the side effects. The soul couldn't survive being split so many times." Lord Voldemort said with irritation.

" **Millions actually, and I am being completely serious, Tom. Incidentally, the down payment is a getting rid of the existing side effects you've incurred from making Horcruxes. As for the soul, you'd be appalled to know how much potential the enemy denies humanity access to. Humans estimate the weight of the sun to be 3.13213894 times 10 to the 29th power stone, and that it will have the lifespan of ten billion years. Your highly muscled modified body weighs 14 stone -"**

"Is there a point to this?" Voldemort interrupted impatiently.

The camel the demoness lay on gave the self-styled Dark Lord a warning shot by spitting a globule of molten uranium that ate through the floor in a heartbeat as Gremory continued. **"** **So if your body had the same energy output as a star of your size, it would take 2.2372421 times 10 to the 38th years to equal that of a star. But souls are eternal, Tom. They will never die out. As in ever. No real difference in the energy output in a vigintillion years than from now. Wait, correction, in much less than a vigintillion years you** **'** **ll have access to more power than the sun at every moment, with no end. Should you succeed in the killing off the prophesied Apostle, His Most Reverend Excellency and Infernal Worship Baal-Berith will teach you the method of dividing the power of the soul used by beings of higher planes.** **"**

"If the soul is capable of outputting power greater than the sun, why am I so limited now?" Voldemort countered.

 **"For the same reason that you and every other can't use all the strength their muscles are capable of except in exceptional circumstances; it would damage your body and you were designed that way. You're extremely powerful for a mortal Tom, but what do you think would be the outcome if the amount of Internal Spiritual Power you used to destroy the wards on the McKinnon estate every second?"**

Voldemort considered that for a moment. The McKinnon ancestral home was warded extremely well. Obviously not well enough to prevent him from tearing down the protections to allow the members of his Inner Circle from butchering the residents, but in doing so he had suffered very minor nerve damage due to more magical power than he was accustomed to on a day-to-day basis flowing through his system. If a burst of magic that was but a drop in the ocean compared to the energy of a sun over a relatively short period of time caused even his ritual enhanced body mild discomfort, Voldemort had to concede that a constant stream of even the slightest fraction of the power of a star would destroy any human.

"But if the soul does have such power, how does the body contain it?" Voldemort asked curiously.

" **The exact details are above even my pay-grade, Tom, but I gather it is similar to the connection of the mind to the body. The mind doesn** **'** **t always seem to operate within the confines of the flesh during dreams or astral projection, now does it? The physical and the spiritual may be linked, but they are separate. Why do you think that we ask for a vessel to possess during a summoning? Although it is well within our power to conjure one of our own, having a physical form is rather foreign to us, and it** **'** **s honestly a pain in the fanny to use a small enough amount of power that the Enemy doesn** **'** **t get our case for violating the rules of engagement. There are a few exceptions of course. Samigina and the Most Noble Orobas produce Porlocks** [3] **to possess, His Honorable Worship Khepu conjures Chimera** [4] **, Valefar manifests as a Manticore** [5] **, Avnas appropriates Ashwinders** [6] **, Classyalabolas incarnates as a Crup** [7] **, Botis becomes a Bicorn** [8] **, the Right Honorable Inspector General Naberius is so associated with Cerberus** [9] **that he had his name changed to avoid confusion, Murmux and Vapula generate Griffins** [10] **, and others, but they made special arrangements to gain those abilities."**

Gremory suddenly scowled again and looked around suspiciously while the camel's eyes glowed like a dying star and opened its mouth to show teeth that would make a Caerbannog Hare[11] look like Tom the Leaky Cauldron Innkeeper in comparison. It was terrifying enough that Lord Voldemort was not ashamed to relate that his voice was more high-pitched than usual when he asked what the problem was. The Duchess reapplied the pleasant and sensual façade again and the camel ceased to be more terrifying than being surrounded by a battalion of boggarts. Gremory shook her head, muttering in an unintelligible language, though Voldemort could have sworn he heard words conveying the concepts of 'foreshadowing' and 'exposition'.

 **"It's nothing that you have to concern yourself with, Tom. Yes, it is certainly troubling to ME, but I can assure you that it does not affect you. And even if it were, you wouldn't be able to do anything about it aside from seeking assistance from my kind. I suppose technically, you could cross from the mortal plane, but I assure you that even to me, the situation isn't anywhere near so desperate to require such drastic measures. Now, I believe we have gone off at quite a tangent, which is what I found worrying. It's not in my nature to do so, and can be indication that control of the scenario may be slipping outside one's control."**

"Quite. Now assuming that the extraordinary revelations you've told me about the soul are true, why is it that after only 6 Horcruxes I've experienced such negative side effects?"

 **"A very fair question, Tom, to which I'll counter with one of my own. If I, a being who exists primarily on the level of the soul ancient enough to have seen the birth and death of stars can only make educated guesses about the relationship between body and soul, than what do you think the results of a being who isn't even able to access a speck of the soul's capabilities undergoes a process to split the soul in half? A Practitioner of your skill and caliber is capable of creating about three Horcruxes without aide from spirits who have an idea of how to deal with the soul, well, let's just say the fact you look fully human from behind is rather remarkable. You've been breaking off a bit of every aspect of your being when creating a Horcrux, the method we spirits use to divide our souls you may learn if successful merely partitions our power. It would be a great deal more efficient for you. As the Enemy won't suffer you access to millionths of what your soul would be capable of if not for that meddlesome nitpicking Enemy will allow, the only problem for you would be to find enough 'innocents' -"** Gremory's camel snorted **"- for the ritual murders necessary to create a Horcrux. But I really am not the expert about these kind of things, my specialties are Divination, Treasure, and Sex."**

The orange candles that Voldemort had lit as part of the ritual summoning let out three flares before it began to dim in warning as it approached the end of a demon summoning session for safety reasons.

 **"It would appear our time is drawing to a close, Tom. If you want to know more about the soul and other divine matters, you should talk to Os** **é** **, Viceroy Furfur (but be sure to call her by that particular title), or if you want to go deep into the minutiae, contact the Much Honored and Reverend Royal Majesty Horus. To make the pact to eliminate the potential Apostles official, summon His Most Reverend Excellency and Infernal Worship Baal-Berith. I'm afraid that the Rules of Engagement forbid me to explicitly tell you the identities of the potential Apostles, but you'd be able to figure it out if you substitute "thrice escaped the serpent's coils" with "thrice defied the Dark Lord". Despite the first actually referring to refusing to make a pact with my brethren, they also managed to escape a direct confrontation with you three times and live."**

Voldemort nodded and proceeded to recite an ancient formula. "O thou Gremory, because thou hast-diligently answered unto my demands and hast been very ready and willing to come at my call, I do here license thee to depart unto thy proper place; without causing harm or danger unto man or beast. Depart, then, I say, and be thou very ready to come at my call, being duly exorcised and conjured by the sacred rites of magic."

Gremory rolled her eyes, as did the camel before they both burst into flames that bore an uncanny resemblance to Fiendfyre, except that they didn't burn anything. In their place was the corpse of a unicorn and the shuddering body of a Muggleborn witch who was exceptional enough the Dark Lord had ordered her captured to be used as a medium for his demonic allies to possess. Voldemort casually pointed his wand at the unfortunate woman.

" _Scindo Dedisco_ ," he drawled casually, casting an unholy hybrid of a Memory Charm and the Cruciatus Curse that tortured the victim until they willingly forced whatever memories the caster desired from their soul. Either that or it scarred the tissue of the brain where the memory was stored to the point where the memory was physically deleted, Voldemort couldn't be bothered to remember which. He had people to do that for him. The important thing was that unlike conventional Memory Charms, it couldn't be undone, and Voldemort wasn't about to take the risk that any of his Death Eaters would find out about the rewards the demons would give to whoever would kill off these so-called Apostles. He wouldn't even trust such loyal Death Eaters as the Lestrange Brothers and Bartemius Crouch Jr. to not seize the prize for themselves, and if they did, they would be fools to remain subordinate to him. And if her husband was given such power, even dear sweet Bella might turn her back on him.

Duchess Gremory was right, as always. That little clarification of the prophecy narrowed down the potential Apostles to the children of either the Longbottoms or the Potters. Given what Voldemort had managed to gather about the Enemy the demons spoke of coupled with the term "Apostle", the child of the prophecy would somehow become a Christian despite the ostracism say individual who paid anything beyond lip service to the religion responsible for forcing witches and wizards into isolating themselves from the rest of humanity. Seeing as how Frank Longbottom and his wife Alice were both raised in the magical community, Voldemort doubted that any child of theirs would become an Apostle, so the blood-traitor James Potter and the trollop Lily Potter were really the only logical progenitors for this child of prophecy. As one of his Death Eaters dragged the tortured Mudblood away to further torments, Voldemort muttered a spell to cause the recently applied Dark Mark of one Petter Pettigrew to burn, notifying the simpering fool to present himself as soon as possible.

[1] **2 Peter 1:21**

"For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man"

Majorly out of context because the rest of the verse continues:

"but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

[2] The concept of the Voldemort having claim over the souls of Death Eaters with the Dark Mark comes from the story _On a Pale Horse_ by Hyliian

 **Magi of Ephesus vs Ministry of Magic Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification Equivalency**

 **Key** : Magi of Ephesus Classification | M.O.M. Classification | Example(s)

X-Rank | XXXXX | Incarnate Pagan Deity

SS-Rank | XXXXX | Nundu, Demon Possessed Witch/Wizard

S-Rank | XXXXX | Dragon, Basilisk

A-Rank | XXXX - XXXXX | Troll, Sphinx, Acromantula

B-Rank | XXX - XXXX | Hippogriff, Red Cap, Erkling

C-Rank | XXX | Kneazle, Niffler, Murtlap

D-Rank | XX | Imp, Jobberknoll, Diricawl

E-Rank | X | Horklump, Flobberworm

[3] **Porlock**

 **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification:** XX (Harmless/ may be domesticated)

 **Magi of Ephesus Overall Threat Rating:** D-Rank (Only a threat to individuals less able to defend themselves than a six-year old with a baseball bat)

 **Rating When Aware of Potential Threat:** E-Rank

 **Difficulty to Identify:** D-Rank (anyone previously given a description should be able to identify)

[4] **Chimera**

 **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification:** XXXXX (Known Wizard Killer/Impossible to Train or Domesticate/Anything Hagrid likes)

 **Magi of Ephesus Overall Threat Rating:** S-Rank (Deadly even to fully fledged Magi of Ephesus)

 **Rating When Aware of Potential Threat:** S-Rank

 **Difficulty to Identify:** E-Rank (even Muggles can identify)

[5] **Manticore**

 **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification:** XXXXX (Known Wizard Killer/Impossible to Train or Domesticate)

 **Magi of Ephesus Overall Threat Rating:** S-Rank

 **Rating When Aware of Potential Threat:** S-Rank

 **Difficulty to Identify:** E-Rank (even Muggles can identify)

[6] **Ashwinder**

 **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification:** XXX (Competent Wizard Should Cope)

 **Magi of Ephesus Overall Threat Rating:** B-Rank

 **Rating When Aware of Potential Threat:** C-Rank

 **Difficulty to Identify:** C-Rank

[7] **Crup**

 **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification:** XXX (Competent Wizard Should Cope)

 **Magi of Ephesus Overall Threat Rating:** C-Rank

 **Rating When Aware of Potential Threat:** D-Rank

 **Difficulty to Identify:** S-Rank (Wizarding law demands the distinctive forked tail be removed)

[8] **Bicorn**

 **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification:** XXXX (Dangerous/Requires Specialist Knowledge/Skilled Wizard may Handle)

 **Magi of Ephesus Overall Threat Rating:** A-Rank

 **Rating When Aware of Potential Threat:** B-Rank

 **Difficulty to Identify:** C-Rank

[9] **Cerberus**

 **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification:** XXXX (Dangerous/Requires Specialist Knowledge/Skilled Wizard may Handle)

 **Magi of Ephesus Overall Threat Rating:** B-Rank

 **Rating When Aware of Potential Threat:** C-Rank

 **Difficulty to Identify:** E-Rank

[10] **Griffen**

 **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification:** XXXX (Dangerous/Requires Specialist Knowledge/Skilled Wizard may Handle)

 **Magi of Ephesus Overall Threat Rating:** A-Rank

 **Rating When Aware of Potential Threat:** A-Rank

 **Difficulty to Identify:** E-Rank

[11] **Caerbannog Hare**

 **Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Classification:** XXXX (Dangerous/Requires Specialist Knowledge/Skilled Wizard may Handle)

 **Magi of Ephesus Overall Threat Rating:** B-Rank

 **Rating When Aware of Potential Threat:** C-Rank

 **Difficulty to Identify:** S-Rank (5% of identifying in time to take proper precautions when unsuspecting of presence in the area, B-Rank if one is forewarned)

When Newton "Newt" Artemis Fido Scamander was asked why he didn't include the Caerbannog Hare in the 52nd edition Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the illustrious Magizoologist had this to say: "Those rodents with unusual incisors? I don't think they exist."


	4. Chapter 2

**Harry Potter and the Armor of God**

 **D** is for Don't own Harry Potter, some of the best books of all time.

 **I** t is the work of JK Rowling, not mine.

 **S** is for Support the Official Release!

 **C** is for Comment on my stories, please.

 **L** is for Likely updates won't come sooner, but later,

 **A** is for All rights reserved by a work's creator.

 **I** f you recognize something, it's not mine, I confess,

 **M** is for Money for writing this, which I will never possess.

 **E** is for Enjoy my story and have fun,

 **R** is for Read on, it's time we've begun!

 **WARNING:** This is a VERY OC heavy chapter with content that non-Christians may find **HIGHLY OFFENSIVE**. Any ideas about the military organization of angels and demons described are the imagination of the author. If anyone has any questions that aren't attempts of trolling/flaming, I will make the effort to respond. Also, if there's a word a demon uses in dialog that you don't recognize, I advise against looking it up. I apologize to anyone versed in British slang for not having the bliss of ignorance, but I only have so many ways to portray demons as utterly vile without upping this story to M for language.

 **Chapter 2**

 **Verse for this Chapter (If a bit too literal):** 1 Peter 3:21[1]

 **Location:** Godric's Hollow, West Country, England

 **Time:** October 31, 1981

The events that happened the night of Halloween 1981 in Godric's Hollow are at once well known and completely unknown. Nearly the entire population of humanity that have access to Internal Spiritual Power are aware that the Dark Lord Voldemort was able to get past the Potter's Fidelius Charm thanks to being betrayed by the Secret Keeper. The fact that said Secret Keeper eventually came out, but no mortal knew with absolute certainty why it was that the most powerful Dark Practitioner since the time of King Arthur lost his physical body when attempting to slaughter a one year old child. Albus Dumbledore and other hopeless romantics propose that Lily Potter's love for her son invoked the ancient magic of sacrificial protection. Others proposed that the mother of the Boy Who Lived had set up a powerful runic array, performed some sort of ritual, or invoked a spirit from a higher plane to protect her son. Albus Dumbledore's crowd and those who hypothesized that spirits were involved were somewhat correct in theory, though the spirit of their theories were close to polar opposites of what actually saved Harry Potter that game-changing day. It was indeed the loving and willing sacrifice that protected Harry Potter from the Dark Lord Voldemort's Killing Curse, but the sacrifice had happened over a millennium before the ancestors of James and Lily began using surnames. And the only spirits actually summoned by witch or wizard that were doing their damnedest to try and ensure that Voldemort succeeded in killing the child that seemed elected to be a Witness to the Wizarding World. By the time that Voldemort had forced open the door to the Potter's (former) safe-house, thousands upon thousands of the denizens of Hell were thoroughly entrenched around the formerly Charmed domicile.

The ranks of the Powers of Darkness were varied in numerous degrees of size, shape, species, and strength. The vast majority of the seemingly uncountable number of demons were Artifi-Souls, demons created by other demons. As Tal, a Captain of the Heavenly Host had remarked in the Daily Briefing following the passing of the Edict of Milan, angels ranked even as low as a Lance Corporal with an emphasis on combat could single-handedly take down a battalion of Artifi-Souls, even those created by Archdemons. Such was the difference between a creation of The Creator and a creation of Creation. But the one thing that made the Infernal Legions continuously produce these creatures that were individually exponentially less threatening to angelic forces than marshmallow is to a charging elephant were the numbers. What made Artifi-Souls so effective a delaying tactic is that a wall of a million marshmallows can stall a charging elephant, and with an Archdemon able to create over a hundred Artificial beings every second that would last far past the most generous estimate of how much time would pass in the mortal world before Judgement Day, the Powers of Darkness were able to provide plenty of marshmallows as meat-shields. The Artifi-Souls were easily distinguishable from the Fallen Angels in several ways. The Artifi-Souls, while able to output amounts of energy that could scarcely be comprehended by mortals, were like the light from glow-in-the-dark paint compared to all the lights in New York City. The next greatest observable distinction between Fallen Angels and Artifi-Souls was their appearance. While none of the Fallen Angels possessed their full splendor, most still were capable of passing for an angel of light or benevolent deities to mortals. Even the most corrupted of demons were capable of making themselves nearly overwhelmingly attractive in the minds of humans. In contrast, the most that Artifi-Souls were capable of appearing were forms that appealed to the corrupted desires of humanity. The vast majority of these beings created in Hell appeared as things of nightmares and monsters of myth and legend.

The Artifi-Soul forces were also significantly less intelligent than their Fallen Angel masters, and weren't really able to function against their celestial adversaries. They were given special armaments created and imbued with demonic power similar to Artifi-Souls only without any intelligence or sentience at all that they were trained to fire in several patterns in order to force their angelic adversaries into strategically disadvantageous positions.

" _Lily,-"_

Metaphorical metaphysical rivers of sweat were rolling off Misapperel, who as Harry Potter's guardian angel had been fighting off enemies before the regiment of the Heavenly Host had showed up. Because of Divine Providence, not even the Archdemons of the enemy had been able to dissipate his metaphysical form, which was the only reason he was only covered in bruises, burns, and cuts minor enough that wouldn't even incapacitated a mortal soldier. That didn't stop him from being exhausted due to constant drain of Smiting as many Artifi-Souls and demons as he could. He counted 48,037,384 Artifi-Souls, 476 low level Fallen Angels, 87 median Fallen Angels, 19 average Fallen Angels, and 5 above average Fallen Angels. That actually wasn't too draining, only taking about 15% of his energy reserves. That's when the enemy Champions had realized he was an order of magnitude more powerful than the average guardian angel. Two archdemons had been dispatched to keep him occupied.

The weaker of the two appeared as a little boy with a halo and fluffy white wings carrying a medieval harp and riding intertwined two winged serpents the half the girth but just as long as the Basilisk currently slumbering inside the Chamber of Secrets. This was the form Volac had chosen to take for battle when he wanted to be able to affect the physical plane of mortal existence at a moment's notice.

Gremory had also changed appearance from the last time she was mentioned in this story. She still wore black velvet robes trimmed with white gold thread, but instead of a duchess' crown around her waist a large blue and gold undulating serpent was coiled around her waist and neck. She wore a diadem that featured a plume of feathers from the forehead, a veil trailing down the back of the diadem down to where she sat on her camel, and two horns like a crescent moon. She wielded a long polearm with a scimitar-like blade, and her camel had a minigun turret hanging from each side of the saddle in addition to having rocket launcher tubes in place of from below the normal knees.

The Duchess of Hell was hovering over Misapperel, letting out a constant bombardment from the numerous barrels of her mount's weapons at the guardian angel. Normally Misapperel would have found this a minor annoyance, but Volac would prevent the guardian angel from raising in elevation enough to destroy the cyborg psycho-mechanical construct by constantly firing arrows at a frequency that was suited for stunning rather than inflicting damage. Now normally that would still not be enough to keep him on the defensive, but the endless replacements of Artifi-Souls worked as frustratingly effective meat shields, slowing down any attacks he would send towards the two archdemons enough that Volac and Gremory could evade the attacks.

'Those damned Artifi-Souls only slow the attacks down. If even a tenth of those attacks had connected, those two would already have been Smited,' Misapperel thought as he moved his weapon to defend himself against the latest onslaught of attacks. Misapperel had chosen a weapon that resembled a spear with a large round shield located right behind the spearhead. Instead of metal, the spearhead was like the blade of a yellow lightsaber, and in the shape was in the form of an Anglo Norse twisted spear. The overall effect made the weapon bear resemblance to a weaponized Japanese paper parasol. Dagger sized spikes of holy energy surrounded the rim of the shield, which Misapperel would extend to a few dozen meters to detonate or deflect any projectiles Gremory shot at him. This had gone on for several minutes mortal time, which equated to a few millennia of nonstop combat to the rather fatigued guardian angel.

"Gah! Stay still you quilt of tagnuts!" Volac somehow managed to screech over the howls, roars, and chanting of the Infernal Legions in excitement at the prospect of having more souls to torture. Yet another one of Volac's fully drawn arrows dispersed harmlessly against the shield of his adarga. "Having a Soul-Force Armament like that in the hands of someone like you is a sacrilege! SFAs are supposed to compensate for weaknesses, not give an iron club to an oni!"

"Let's see, where do I start with correcting all those fallacies. Those who inspired the legends of Oni are exclusive to your ranks, and I'd sooner chop myself into deli slices than let one of your kind wield my Armament. Also, don't compare the Soul-Force Armaments between our two sides. Field Marshal Michael helped me forge this masterwork, and as a Guardian Angel I have more time than most to improve its baseline functions and need to make repairs less often when I actually do see combat. Naturally my adarga is vastly superior to any creation short of a SFA constantly upgraded by an O-11 Fallen Angel. The way the spikes around the rim of the shield extend DOES cover weakness against ranged attackers. And the hypocrisy of a demon wailing about sacrilege is not even worth a reply to," Misapperel retorted.

" _-take-"_

A regiment composed entirely of elite members of the Heavenly Host stared down upon the unholy hordes that sought to stop the spread of the Gospel to the Wizarding World. Countless vile monstrosities already had begun to shoot metaphysical musket balls from demonic Soul-Force Armaments. The commanders of the Infernal Legions did not see the point of creating any more complex weapons for cannon fodder that rarely managed to get off more than one shot before they were Smote by the enemy.

"We all have our orders," an archangel's lieutenant named Safrenitel remarked. She wasn't the strongest, fastest moving, most durable, accurate, analytical, had the highest rate of fire, or any other traditional factor in combat, but she was the best at giving speeches. "Long has the Enemy lead the vast majority of those given the genes for access to Internal Spiritual Power to eternal damnation, and those willing to use their talents to glorify our LORD have been so few that the existence of miracles is ridiculed by those who are wise in the eyes of the world. But tonight, if we are successful, the Holy Spirit will be able to raise a Missionary to the lost ones of the Wizarding World. Onward my brothers and sisters, for the Saints and for The Lamb!"

 **"FOR THE SAINTS AND FOR THE LAMB!"** the regiment of the Heavenly Host echoed, spreading out in advanced formations. Cherubim flew at the front of their formations, using the massive intersecting wheels of their bodies as shields for their compatriots. At the same time as the Host charged forward, Voldemort entered the home of the Potters with murder in his heart.

Safrenitel strapped on a kite shield to her offhand while her dominant hand brought a trumpet affixed with a bayonet to her lips and began to play All Who Believe and are Baptized[299] along with other angels with weapons that were metaphysically represented as musical instruments. The attacks issued forth in the form of musical notes moving at warp speeds that would detonate upon impact with demons. Each note's detonation would take out a dozen or so Artifi-Souls. However, when the blast zone would clear, another Artifi-Soul of the same make and model would reappear to take their place.

'They've gotten really good at sending in reinforcements. Another Artifi-Soul is warped in the yocto-second an area is cleared of spiritual energy that would destroy the poor unfortunate things.' Safrenitel mused to herself as she willed her musical notes to hit the chosen point where the Heavenly Host would break through. 'The only way we'll be able to get to Misapperel's charge is to go through the openings at the same times as our attacks from range, and then the Enemy will send in reinforcements to our behinds. Thankfully we've got some archerubim that can fight from four different directions simultaneously as good as I can fight from any single direction.'

At the end of the hymn, the musically inclined angels played the universal tune signaling to charge. The angels who were geared towards close combat rushed through the openings created. In order to further scatter the enemy ranks and prevent themselves from being completely overwhelmed, these angels let out omnidirectional bursts of as much power as they could manage without throwing the universe observable by mankind into utter turmoil. Normally, the Archdemons and other Fallen Angels would have been able to contain the blast, but one of the angels named Lach'tzovel used their specialized power to send the energy that spilled over into the physical universe to places in the universe where they would disperse harmlessly into black holes. It wasn't a tactic that the Heavenly Host used often, as Lach'tzovel could only be in one place at a time, so the demons did not have enough experience with the technique to develop an effective counter-strategy or reproduce the technique.

Shrieks, screams, howls, roars, oaths, curses, and all manner of unpleasant ululations issued forth as nearly all the Artifi-Souls along with several low-to-mid level Fallen Angels surrounding Godric's Hollow from the eastern quadrant were banished to The Abyss to reform after their metaphysical bodies were obliterated. Even some of the Fallen Angels that were classified as Archdemons were slightly bruised by the fusillade of angelic power if they hadn't gotten out of the way of the bursts. Replacements for the vanquished demons came in almost immediately, but the blitzkrieg had scattered the ranks enough for the Heavenly Host to advance far closer to Potter's cottage. Before the Heavenly Host could repeat the maneuver however, a bullet of compressed and concentrated demonic energy went through Lach'tzovel's head, soon followed by a huge blade skewering the dimensional transportation specialist's metaphysical heart.

" _-Harry-"_

'Adjutant General Misapperel, status report.' the stern voice of an archerubim in charge of coordination requested in the mind of Harry Potter's guardian angel. Knowing that backup had finally arrived, Misapperel felt his fifth wind (he'd already had his second, third, and fourth wind). He used the resurgence of energy to extend all the spikes on his weapon to their maximum length and spun the shaft of his weapon like a weed-whacker, which dealt with the Artifi-Souls attempting to surround him with similar ease.

'Took you guys long enough to establish communication. Alright, I wasn't able to get a proper survey of the enemy's exact levels of fighters below O-5 level, but I was able to get an idea of their heavy hitters. For Champions, I can confirm the presence of Baal-Berith, Anubis, Dagon, Aim, Buné in that three-headed form of hers, Haures, and I've been fighting with Gremory and Volac for several minutes mortal-time. For their chief sniper, they've got Barbatos with a surprisingly decent Soul-Force Armament. Keep him busy or he'll be able to charge up an attack that will be a one-hit KO for any of our warriors who have less than O-7 defenses. I am reasonably sure the chief Enemy Communications Officer for this battle is in the form of Argus from Greek mythology. I'm not sure who is using that guise, but they aren't Archdemon caliber. Probably Agares, seeing as how she would get a power boost for the scenario,' Misapperel succinctly relayed what he'd been able to gather with half of his processing power during the first mortal minute while using the other half had mowed through the cannon fodder.

'I love it when my commanding officers make my job easier,' the archerubim remarked warmly. 'Alright, here's the battle plan from Lieutenant General Chalutzel. Chalutzel will engage Baal-Berith.'

'By himself?' Misapperel questioned as the guardian angel whirled his still spinning spear around his body to mow through low level enemies. 'Chalutzel is good, really good. He'd be able to take Dagon and Anubis, but without Prayer Cover[i], Baal-Berith is an uphill battle even for The Vanguard.'

Misapperel received the impression a noise like dozens of wind chimes, only orders of magnitude more pleasant. The Communication Officer cherubim's eyes must have been twinkling. 'The Lieutenant General is well aware of this. And, though this goes without saying, so was Adonai Elohim. Which is why He gave Chalutzel a not-so little surprise for the Infernal Grand Secretary.'

" _-and-"_

The most powerful beings of the two respective sides circled each other warily. Chalutzel the Vanguard, an ArchCherubim glared hundreds of metaphysical eyes at the Enemy Commander.

Baal-Berith was an Archdemon of the highest caliber, who reported directly to The Devil Himself. In the mind's eye, his metaphysical form would appear as a soldier dressed like a soldier's garb in crimson, a golden crown for a helmet. His human-like face was covered in enough scars that seemed like seams, and a thick, bushy beard that seemed to be made of barbed wire. He was mounted atop a creature that appeared like a massive war-horse fully clad in spiked metal plates the color of fresh blood, with a mane and tail of molten metal. However, instead of having two back legs like a normal horse, the rear appeared like a motorcycle sporting tires covered in metal spikes. The demon himself wielded a weapon that resembled a rapier with a pistol grip, though it was more along the size of a knight's jousting lance than a sword that could be easily wielded in a single arm.

In the mind's eye of humans, Chalutzel appeared no less formidable, even if the terror inspired in the hearts would be because of the ArchCherubim gave off the feeling of being unworthy as opposed to the seething anger that rolled off Baal-Berith in quantities that made Niagara Falls seem like a leaky faucet.

Chalutzel's frame was human in a loose sense. His straight legs had feet like a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. A face of a stunningly handsome man faced the false god, a lion's face came from the right side, the face of an ox stared to the left, and an eagle's head watched the back. The ArchCherubim had two sets of wings, with one set of wings spread out upward while the other set covered his body, and had arms that rippled with power directly underneath each wing. Underneath the ArchCherubim was a wheel intersecting another wheel that appeared to be made of topaz. The wheel and wings were covered in enough eyes to allow Chalutzel to keep a metaphysical eye on all of the major players in the Enemy's force.

"This is a rather rare occurrence for you to be out on the front lines, Grand Secretary Baal-Berith. Though considering how sending a Missionary into the community of witches and wizards would intrude into your vile area of influence, I am not surprised you would fight to the bitter end to prevent it." Chalutzel remarked while the ArchCherubim sent rapid volleys of thin energy beams from each eye, every shot vaporizing one of the endless cannon fodder Artifi-Soul demons.

"Vanguard," the Archdemon acknowledged in respect with a voice like the screeching of locked wheels heard just before an automobile collision. "You dishonor me by appropriating such a large percentage of your focus on the cannon fodder, even if you are able to Smite them as fast as Argus can call in reinforcements."

"Oh?" Chalutzel asked skeptically and did something that would have sent Voldemort into cardiac arrest on account of envy. A Cherubim raising their eyebrows is just something beyond the ability of a hobbyist mortal author to describe beyond the impression it would have on a mortal. It was an action that involves more metaphysical muscles than an Olympic level gymnastics performance. "I was under the impression that Artifi-Souls were being continuously 'Ported in as soon as Infernal Command senses a vacancy in the celestial parallel plane. Argus isn't at a high enough level to be coordinating the battlefield, calling in reinforcements, and being able to keep enough eyes open to avoid getting wasted. Perhaps if it was Amaymon, Tamiel, or Kasdeya masquerading as Argus, but they wouldn't bother to hide their power to the degree that would give me the impression that I could take them out in one full power blow."

Baal-Berith let out a growl at how completely Chalutzel had managed to read the situation. "Clever [expletive]. For an ArchCherubim always noted for doing things involving brute force, you aren't lacking in analytical skills. You would have done very well on our side. While it's true that any one of our brethren would make a larger impact in history by having Rebelled, a being that combines both power and intellect such as yourself would have made a significant difference- GGRRRRRAAAAAGG!"

Baal-Berith's speech was cut short when the beams from Chalutzel's eyes suddenly converged and blasted the Archdemon in the back. The ArchCherubim hadn't put the majority of his power into the attack in order to slip past the guard of the Enemy's commander, so the Archdemon was caught completely off guard.

While Baal-Berith could have stood up to thousands of Chalutzel's eye beams if taken one at a time, having the scores of individual beams simultaneously impact in the Archdemon's blind spot had an effect similar to having the wind knocked out of him for a brief moment. But that was long enough for Chalutzel to bring out a weapon that hadn't seen action since The Flood...

" _-go!-"_

'So who do we have that can take on the Infernal Legion's Champions?' Misapperel inquired as he slammed a palm into the chest of a Fallen Angel the Adjutant General of the Heavenly Host had allowed to get inside his guard. The ripples spread throughout the demon's body before said metaphysical body dissipated into a cloud of red fog that reeked like rotten eggs.

'Captain Tal[i] is preparing to engage against Prince Anubis.'

'That will be an interesting fight. That jackal hasn't participated in a battle of this magnitude in a few mortal decades, and it's been centuries since we've had someone go one-on-one against him. Try and get several cherubim positioned around that area so we can get multiple angles of the struggle; whenever an Archdemon resurfaces on the battlefield after a prolonged period of absence, they tend to have developed a few new tricks.'

Tal, a Captain of the Host, weaved through the ranks of standard demons as effortlessly as the unending but pathetically weak (relatively) Artifi-Soul demons with powerful but fluid blows from palms strikes, kicks, and wings, not even having to draw his weapon to banish the fiends back to Hell. When a dozen stronger than average demons dogpiled him, Tal merely released a blast of energy in the fashion of a supernova to reduce the unclean spirits to spiritual ashes and force their retreat to reform in The Abyss. As the spiritual glare from the wave of power receded, Tal hovered in place, staring at a powerful jackal-faced humanoid being that even mortals could identify within two guesses.

"Haven't seen you around recently, Anubis." Tal said neutrally as he absentmindedly fired feathers from his six wings to perforate the rank and file demons that were reckless enough to enter the Captain of the Host's subconscious sensory range.

"That may be because I've been operating more under the alias of Ipos for the past few centuries. Humans these days just don't have much use for a god of Death, and Egypt has given up on the Old Gods." The Egyptian god of Death shrugged barrel-sized shoulders in mock resignation. "At least the Christianity didn't last too long as the dominant religion. Ipos on the other hand is getting more and more popular. Besides being able to see PP&F[ii] (at least from a human perspective), though since that's been done to Sheol, I'm more successful as a life coach."

"Life coach?" Tal asked in apparent confusion.

"Someone who helps others improve their lives. In particular, I help make meatbags witty and valiant, keep friends and make new ones."

"I am aware of what the term means, Anubis. I just found it rather... peculiar that you would take well to the title of 'Life Coach' considering you are best known as the Egyptian (false) god of Death."

"The dichotomy is most amusing. Not as amusing as being invoked to protect souls in their journey in the afterlife, but you take what you can get." Anubis let an amused smile come across his jackal face. "Now Captain, I don't suppose there is any chance that we can resolve this problem without having to resort to violence? The Baptism of the meatbag brat was much more of secular than Sacrament. None of the parents or sponsors were intending to raise him as a Christian, and the minister was closer to a Justice of the Peace than a called servant of your LORD."

"Tut tut, Anubis. You know very well that it is certainly not the water that holds the power in Baptism, nor those who administer the Sacraments, but God's Word which is in and with the water and faith which trusts the Word." Tal rejoined easily. "Now, allow me to return you the courtesy you've shown by offering you and yours the chance to withdraw. Surely there your forces could be placed elsewhere in more strategic locations."

"Perhaps, but on other fronts, your forces have Prayer Cover. Hence why you brought so many elite fighters, we actually have the closest thing an advantage The Sovereign will suffer us to possess. Even those of us not in the Department of Magic are rather fond of having areas of the world where we have a reliable foothold." The demon once worshiped as the Egyptian god of Death suddenly held a large flail in his right arm twice the size of his head and covered in spikes like the tips of jousting lances. "And any beating I get for defending this front will be nothing compared to what will happen if I abandoned the post." A mad gleam entered the eyes of his metaphysical jackal's head and the god of the Egyptians swung the flail in circles, which produced a menacing hum. While Anubis had much less clout than he did in the ages of the Pharaohs, he was still an Archdemon with a capital 'A', if only barely. But what kept him from being demoted to archdemon was that he could use a considerable amount of his full power while directly parallel to the mortal realm without causing overdue spillage of Spiritual Power affecting the physical world. Despite this, a small whirlwind was whipped up by the gravitational force stronger than a collapsed star in the vicinity of Godric's Hollow. "Now, come. It's been too long since I've had a fight with a worthy opponent on a level playing field."

Tal, Captain of the Host, wordlessly released his weapon which looked like a longsword with a blade that glowed like a white lightsaber with a highly ornate hilt, though none who saw the weapon would mistake it as just for show. This would not be an easy battle without the prayers of the Holy Christian Church on Earth to move the Sovereign LORD to tip the balance in their favor. Though he was more concerned with how his brother Guilo would fare against Dagon, who was even more powerful than Anubis. Dagon was a force to be reckoned with even when the Strength of Many had the benefit Prayer Cover, without it Guilo would need another angel's assistance if he wanted to avoid ending up shish-kebabed on the Phoenician deity's trident.

" _-It's-"_

'-Case and point is Gremory. She's turned the camel into a damned piece of Soul-Force Artillery. Looks like Kagu-tsuchi's handiwork, if I had to take an educated guess.' Misapperel remarked as he took a deep breath before beating his six wings hard enough to blow back all the projectiles and Artifi-Souls that

Gremory had sent his way at the same speed the demoness' cyborg artillery had launched the rocket-propelled grenades.

Gremory shrieked a series of expletives fouler than anything found on the internet with the same word count loud enough that it was heard by all combatants as she nursed the cuts and burns from the debris Misapperel had blown back at her. She spun her polearm rapidly in front of herself and her camel as a medium to generate a giant circle of protective energy, but that wasn't what had her in an apoplectic fit.

" **YOU** **CHEAT!** **Trespasser! Pharisee! Charlatan! Swindler! Bamboozler! That attack spilled over into the mortal realm with beyond the acceptable force! HAX! I CALL HAX! I CALL SHENANIGANS! SHENANIGANS I SAY!"** The number of incidents where demons could feel anything close to justified moral outrage were few and far between, and the times such an incident was caused by their former brethren could be counted on the hands.

'General Misapperel, just what did you do?' the archerubim Communications Officer queried in a highly curious tone. 'I haven't heard one of our former sisters scream like that since the Enemy finally resigned themselves that The Lamb was victorious!'

Misapperel allowed a somewhat smug smirk come across his face as he mentally replied. 'I technically broke the restriction of how much influence our battle is permitted to have on the mortal plane by flapping my wings… at full strength. I wouldn't have been able to get away with it if they didn't crowd the airspace so densely with those poor, unfortunate, wretched Artifi-Souls that they spam as meatshields. If they were even 5% less of an obstruction, I would have started a Category 5 hurricane in the mortal word despite my control over my energy. Which, if I may be so bold as to boast, is a fair deal better than Adonai Elohim granted most of his creation. So, what is being done about the other Champions the Enemy sent against us today?'

'Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance Kashetel will neutralize Barbatos' ability to take potshots at us, though unfortunately not before the shade managed to take out Lach-tzovel. I would be surprised if Kashetel didn't manage to Smite the bugger before the depraved mortal Tom Marvolo Riddle reached your charge.-'

" _-him!"_

Lach'tzovel let out a rasping chuckle as his metaphysical body began to dissolve into specs of golden light as he turned to a Captain of the Host to his left. "Well Kashetel, looks like I've been taken out early. Again. Sorry I won't be around to warp your attacks past the enemy defenses."

Kashetel spared his friend a soft smile as he unleashed an arrow-shaped bolt of energy from his weapon, a highly complex bow that could have been confused for a modern concert harp from a distance. Each string of the Soul-Force Armament appeared as 7 millimeter thick beams of white light, and the knee of the harp was positioned to be perpendicular to the knock of a fully drawn 'arrow'. "Don't worry about it, Lach. The Archdemon that is taking the form of Berith isn't Artemis," Kashetel gestured to the huge blade in Lach'tzovel's gut. "Nor is the one who shot you in the noggin. I can outdo anyone else in pure marksmanship, even though I can tell whomever is using the form of Berith is stronger than me, the size of the rapier isn't what Artemis uses when she assumes that form. Must be Grand Secretary Baal-Berith himself then. Lieutenant General Chalutzel will deal with him. Since Artemis isn't here and none of the other Archdemons are forms Apollo uses, my duty as chief counter-sniper isn't something that I need your extra help for. The only issue is if I will be able to Smite the scumbags in time for us to give Misapperel some much needed backup." While Kashatel said these things, he was loosing arrow-shaped bolts of energy to intercept any blasts the Captain of the Host sensed would have done his comrades any more than trivial harm.

The oversized rapier blade that had been embedded in Lach'tzovel's torso dropped and disintegrated from existence as everything below the dissolving angel's metaphysical armpits had become nothing but specks of light. Despite the pressing need to return to Heaven in order to reform a metaphysical body soon, the angel gave his brother a comical pout and sniffled. "I feel so redundant."

Kashetel rolled his eyes as he shot a blast that was directed at a preoccupied cherubim. "Hardly. Lacking Prayer Cover as we are in this situation, even your brief action has made a greater impact than I'll have on the entire battle. Not too shabby for a Master Chief Warrant Officer if you ask me."

"Aww shucks Kash'. Well, I need to go back to HQ to recover. Smite some shades[iii] for me, bro." And with those last words, the soul of Lach'tzovel in the form of a shining ball of pure and holy energy departed from the battlefield and returned to Paradise.

With a scowl, Kashetel turned his focus to the demon who had shot his friend in the head. His eyes locked with one of the Fallen Angels who was trying to look like they hadn't Fallen in the first place. The Fallen Angel appeared like Chris Hemsworth's portrayal of Thor, only dressed like Robin Hood, brilliant white angel wings, and a thousand times more handsome and manly. Instead of a bow and arrows however, the demon used a Soul-Force Armament sniper rifle with a barrel larger than a shotgun (Look up Borderlands 2 Shotgun 1340 for reference). The Fallen Angel who had shot Lach-tzovel in the head met Kashetel's gaze. The demon grinned and cheekily titled his cap in a mock salute before firing a powerful blast of energy at one of the angels who were tasked with coordinating the movements of the regiment of the Heavenly Host. Kashetel rolled his eyes and shot an arrow to intercept the blast. He didn't even need to put more than three strings behind the arrow. In fact, his arrow continued on to Smite another five Artifi-Souls with the leftover energy.

"Are you that drained from your last shot?" Kashetel drawled. "The round you hit my friend with was on the upper range of my senses. That one could have come from an Artifi-Soul given a Soul-Force Armament by an O-10 level Archdemon."

Despite that Kashetel's statement was an insult pushing how nasty an angel could be, the demon Barbatos smirked. "First off, ever hear the concept of tracer rounds? Despite His Most Reverend Excellency and Infernal Worship Baal-Berith being the commanding officer of Her Majesty and Infernal Worship Artemis, his sharpshooting skills can benefit from some assistance. I'm not the most powerful archdemon, and I'm certainly no Archdemon, but I don't need to be. This Soul-Force Armament doesn't just allow me to use a larger portion of my full power, you see. I can speed up my attack in exchange for decreased power, but when I hit my target, any shot I manage to get on the enemy's person leaves with one of my tracer rounds leaves a trajectory path that any of my allies of sufficient skill can follow. And secondly, that attack was just to get your measure. You used 3 of 32 strings. Assuming that the power of your attack doubles with every string, so stop that blast, which was incidentally just as you described, 1 in 536870912 of your capabilities. Of course, with your friend taken out of the fight, you would end the solar system from the spillover if you tried to use that much power."

Kashetel smirked inwardly. Barbatos was partially right. The arrow he had shot was precisely 1/536870912th of how fast he could propel the attack. However, the amount of Spiritual Power Kashetel had put into the intercepting arrow was only one percent of how powerful he could make his arrows at maximum velocity, so he actually COULD use the maximum velocity if he kept the initial force of his arrows the same. The only possible problem he would have in taking this enemy sharpshooter was that the enemy sniper's ability to make his compatriots always hit their target could force him to intercept those shots rather than take out Barbatos. Still, Kashetel had a plan to make Barbatos make a wild shot.

" _-Go!-"_

'Lieutenant Commander Safrenitel is about to engage with Haures.' the Communications Officer reported to Misapperel.

'

Safrenitel should win as long as she can keep Haures at a distance. I personally wouldn't have chosen her for this battle, though I can see why she was chosen. Given the lack of Prayer Cover in this situation, we need the boost of morale.'

Safrenitel's metaphysical heart was pounding as the initial breach succeeded. That was actually the relatively easy part. Certainly the regiment of the Heavenly Host couldn't proceed until the enemy's formation was broken, but it meant that the Enemy was now in position to attack whereas before they had been focusing their powers to shield the Artifi-Souls that had been on the frontlines. Fallen Angels were absolutely viscous on the attack, and they had an uncanny knack for picking out those whom they had a chance against when granted the luxury of choosing their opponent. And unfortunately, she was one of the more choice targets. She was high ranking enough that anyone who took her down would gain glory, powerful enough that taking her down was worth bragging rights, and lacking enough in close combat prowess that those below her overall level would find her too tempting to resist.

Hence her current situation where she was facing off against a Fallen Angel who she normally wouldn't have had much of a problem putting down. But Safrenitel was specialized enough in ranged combat that a someone a rank lower than her could give her a difficult challenge. Haures, like Barbatos, didn't seem like a Fallen Angel at first blush. Haures' beauty was enough to captivate any man regardless of orientation. Her eyes, completely devoid of white, perfectly matched her golden hair. She was fair skinned and had long legs that many males would find irresistibly attractive, if they could get their eyes to stop staring at her bust which was perfectly supported by a leopardskin corset despite their impossible proportions. But despite the heavenly appearance of her metaphysical body, she had an absolutely hellish disposition. Haures was concentrating her spiritual power into her two inch long nails that glowed blood red. By concentrating her demonic energies into such a small surface area, her strikes were very dangerous even for an entity at Safrenitel's level. Her kite shield, a Soul-Force Armament that she had created and over time imbued so that it could take more damage than she herself, actually had some scratches on it. Haures' choice to sacrifice range and defense for speed, agility, and penetration had allowed the demon to give the overall more powerful Safrenitel a very difficult time. Too difficult, Safrenitel realized. Haures had optimized herself to be an extremely close combat specialist to the point where she had less defense than some celestial beings of the same rank who were specialized for non-combat abilities. The few times that Safrenitel managed to land a blow with her armored knees and elbows encountered more resistance from Haures' bare skin than the demoness' leopardskin should have provided. The angel's suspicions might as well have been confirmed in a written confession engraved in stone when Safrenitel managed to stab the catty Fallen Angel with her trumpet's bayonet and the blade only sank half as deep into the thigh as anticipated.

"You know, it isn't much of an accomplishment to defeat me if you had to double-team me." Safrenitel remarked dryly.

Haures let out a cat-like hiss as she flipped backward to avoid a second swipe, letting out a stream of black flames in mid-flip to char a mid-level angel that had attempted to skewer her from behind. "It's fairly standard for CQC specialists to trade resistance to damage in order to further enhance damage dealing capacity. To compensate, we have several specialists tasked with the purpose of giving those like me a level of protection. The combat specialist gets the glory of taking down enemies while the defensive specialist gets the gratitude of everyone they protect. Surely you knew this."

" _-Run!-"_

"I was aware of the tactics, but not how your ilk appropriated the consequences." Safrenitel responded, leaning back to avoid a swipe towards her neck. The angel took advantage of her opponent's extended position to snap a kick into the demoness' gut. Her enemy briefly dazed, Safrenitel took the opportunity to send energy blasts in the form of feathers shot from her six wings. While she did this, the angel sent some energy in the form of quarter rest notes to trace each feather. that seemingly inexplicably drifted towards nearly the opposite end of the battlefield When the feathers exploded. These did little more than bruise the Fallen Angel, whose hair and eyes turned as blood red as her claws in anger. Safrenitel let a confident smile grace her face.

"Wipe that smirk off your face. Even without the enhanced defenses, those would have been nothing celebrate." Haures snarled as she lunged towards her adversary.

Safrenitel's smile didn't waver as she brought her trumpet to her lips and joined in on the other angels in playing Thy Strong Word[280]. When the musical note shaped concentration of Spiritual Power missed to the degree that Haures did not even need to dodge, the demoness was about to make a disparaging remark about her opponent's aim when she felt the additional defenses placed by a fellow Fallen Angel flicker in and out. Haures' eyes and hair turned to a yellow and blue polka dot color scheme to express utter shock when her subconscious noted that the interval her additional defenses would flicker out were exactly the same as the notes played by Safrenitel's trumpet just an instant ago. "How the - did you -" Haures' hair and eyes turned a sickly pale chartreuse in realization. "The quarter rests. -, you used them to follow where the damage was being redistributed. Well - me and call me Miss -ity -able -ing -face from -town -annia on the planet -sei in the -ian galaxy. I am so -ed when this is over." The Fallen Angel let out a groan in anticipation of the Hell she'd have to pay when she was blamed for fighting the opponent that had managed to figure out how to locate the Shieldbearers before her eyes and hair turned blood red in rage. Her voice lowered to resemble a garbage disposal and her body turned a faintly glowing pale red. "You damn -! Do you have any idea what they will do to me because you just had to be a -ing smartass and figure out a way to locate a Shieldbearer?! I'll -ing tear you apart!"

A metaphysical droplet of sweat manifested on Safrenitel's face to represent her nervousness. The demons didn't have anyone like Lach'tzovel on their side that could redirect any energy that spilled over into the physical world to a place in the universe where they would do no harm. However, there was another way that any angel, both loyal and fallen, could use their full power The solution was to take on any damage that would spill into the physical universe upon oneself. It was a desperate and very painful tactic. When a celestial being was harmed by their own energy, there were none of the natural defenses that one had against Spiritual Energy from another being. There was some similarity to the immune system in that damage from foreign Spiritual Energy could be attacked by something similar to antibodies. But like how the immune system is not capable of fighting cancer, a celestial being's soul didn't think to prepare resistance to its own energy. The technique Haures was employing actually inflicted damage beyond the metaphysical bodies angels constructed themselves and took significantly longer to recover from the damage than blows from another being, which was why it was not usually employed despite the undeniable short-term results.

"Yes, this is perfect. By using this technique, not only can I rip your -ing throat out, but the judgement I shall face for letting you figure out how to locate a Shieldbearer will be lighter due to my display of dedication to the cause." Haures roared, lunging at Safrenitel with speed a grade above anything she had previously displayed.

Safrenitel however was not without a special trick of her own. Safrenitel's metaphysical body shone white and collapsed into a sphere of golden light a meter in diameter. Haures overshot her target and kept going right into the elbow a muscled Seraphim who had just negated a blast from a merman-like demon with a horn in the middle of the forehead. Haures swayed wildly and dipping altitude, clutching her bloodied face in pain. Safrenitel morphed back into her armored humanoid form, only her right hand held a short saber which she was quick to ram into the throat of her demonic foe. The blade barely managed to pierce all the way through the neck, but they did.

"I'm sorry that you'll have to suffer for my discovery, though I won't apologize for making said discovery." Safrenitel said softly as her saber morphed back into the form of a trumpet with a bayonet. Haures' only response was to spit metaphysical blood into Safrenitel's face, though her vanquisher did not miss that the hateful glare softened slightly before the Fallen Angel retreated back to The Abyss with a wail. "That's one of the Enemy champions down. Auxiliary Captain Guilo will need backup against Dagon, and it's only fair I repay him for giving me the opening I needed." Safrenitel kicked away an incoming Artifi-Soul in the form of a King Cobra while cleaving a minotaur-themed Artifi-Soul with the edge of her gradually repairing shield, musing that a buckler type shield would have come in handy against Haures, who was too agile to attack with her kite shield in such a manner.

" _-I'll-"_

'- Dagon will engage Guilo in combat unless we attempted to prevent the Chief Pantler from engaging his foe. As proven in the past, such attempts are hardly worth the effort. Guilo's constant skirmishes with Dagon make the Strength of Many better equipped to fight Dagon than even any of the O-8 level officers we have available.'

'But without Prayer Cover, Guilo will need reinforcements.' Misapperel noted grimly as he propelled himself through a line of Artifi-Souls and a few low level Fallen Angels towards Volac.

The most muscular seraphim in the detachment of the Heavenly Host exploded through enemy demons, every punch, elbow strike, and blow from a knee letting out a concussive shockwave. This is what Guilo, Strength of Many[i], was created for. Before the Fall, he joyfully did some manual labor. Nothing too strenuous, just repositioning some asteroid fields more aesthetically pleasing arrangement. Afterwards, he was one of the more, shall we say, accepting of having to fight with his former comrades. Guilo's six wings snapped powerfully, launching the seraphim to barrel through the peon cannon fodder towards his chosen opponent. A clap of thunder was heard in the mortal realm as Guilo smacked his fists together and two wide and thick katar with blades that glowed with blazing white fire. This was just in time for Guilo to parry a trident that was outlined in glowing red like a Sith's lightsaber by placing the two blades of his katar between the two prongs.

"Dagon." Guilo growled in grim anticipation of the coming battle.

"Strength of Many." The Phoenician deity snarled as he commanded his weapon to morph into a spear, hoping to pierce his hated foe. The hulking merman-shaped demon with straight blonde hair, small mouth with thin lips, and a horn protruding from his forehead managed to get a cut across Guilo's cheek, but received a devastating shot to the ribs from his age-old foe, which was followed by a knee to the jaw and a roundhouse kick to the side.

"You're such a barbarian, fighting like a [expletive] primitive meatbag." Hissed Dagon as the Archdemon missed Guilo with a swipe of his trident.

"What can I say? When your biggest claim to fame with the Saints is being Samson's Guardian Angel[v], it has somewhat of an impact on one's identity. I figured I could look the part, and it helps to be able to do so much damage without having to activate my weapons." A mischievous glint entered Guilo's eyes as Dagon's expression darkened at the mention of the Israelite Judge. "Which is why you hate it so much, don't you? It reminds you of the strongest mortal that has and will ever lived who trashed your idol. Again. I can only imagine how infuriating was it to have so many worshippers wiped out by the Saint you had kept as a trophy."

[v] Guilo's history as Samson's guardian angel is NOT owned by Frank E. Peretti

Dagon responded with a roar and sending a fast and lethal pulse of energy from his trident at Guilo. The Strength of Many let out a bellow and crossed his katar to receive and disperse the attack. Guilo noticed the distinctive sensation in the air of an angel engaging the technique to allow access to their full power while preventing spillover into the mortal world by taking damage directly to the soul. It was coming from a demon Guilo noticed fighting Safrenitel in his subconscious. The Strength of Many made a quick decision to help his sister who was never very good at close quarter combat by shooting powerful beams of light from his twin katar on a frequency that would not do much damage but was ideal for keeping the enemy from attacking. As the clock was against the Heavenly Host in this instance, Dagon was not expecting to have to deal with such an attack, and was forced to switch all available energy reserves into defense until the Phoenician deity. As an Archdemon, Dagon was only stunned long enough for Guilo to put the maximum force behind an elbow strike to Haures' face that he could without invoking the same self-destructive technique the leopardskin clad demoness was using before he had to return his attention to his age-old foe.

Dagon's weapon, once again in the form of a trident, extended to try to skewer the angel. Guilo evaded up and to the left, though his top right wing was grazed. The Archdemon grinned menacingly. "You know, I never realized just how much of a difference the prayers of those pesky saints made for your lot. But without that blasted Prayer Cover, you're not in the same league as me anymore," Dagon sneered.

Guilo shrugged nonchalantly. "This is true. You're O-9, I'm O-6 with O-7 combat skills. Holding my own against you one-on-one thousands of times are one of those countless miracles unseen by mortal eyes."

Dagon's eyes turned completely red as a traffic light, even the whites of the Archdemon's eyes gleaming red in that anger. "You shall suffer for that, Guilo." the Phoenician deity hissed menacingly, swinging his huge trident in a wide arc, releasing a wave of energy that was thrice as wide as Guilo was tall.

Guilo put his energy into the pair of katar he held and cut the wave of energy in half and passing by him. Or so the Strength of Many thought. The two sections of the wave swung around and nailed the seraph in the back. Guilo let out a hiss of pain as his middle pair of metaphysical wings were mangled.

" _-hold-"_

'As for Aim and Buné, our plan is to send in a fireteam of Lieutenants after Aim and a squad against Buné. However, the odds are that Aim and Buné will order some of their forces to engage those teams while they in turn attempt to stop Surgeon General Achotel from making her rounds.' the archerubim Communications Officer briefed Misapperel for the benefit of the Guardian Angel who was still surrounded to the point where he could not get visual confirmation of the presence of his allies.

Even though he failed to close the distance towards Volac, Misaperrel felt better at the chances of reinforcements being able to reach him in time to preserve the life of Harry Potter. Achotel was a Surgeon General of the Heavenly Host, and technically outranked him. He was a rank more powerful in battle, but Misapperel couldn't help but feel that Achotel would have been in a better state if she had been in his place. Like Guilo, Achotel had earned herself an epithet; Achotel the Indefatigable.

This title came from how her weapon, which resembled a hybrid between a giant syringe and a compound bow using the plunger of the syringe in place of an arrows. Though it looked ridiculous, even Archdemons couldn't bring themselves to make cracks about nurse fetishizes, and any Artifi-Souls that were made to last until past Judgement Day but not eternally often were never heard from again thanks to the weapon's special ability. The Syringe Crossbow could extract Spiritual Power directly from the soul, forcibly if Achotel's Spiritual Power was higher than the victim's.

Without her bow's special ability, Achotel could be bested by an individual two ranks below her such as Guilo, but with it the Surgeon General was able to permanently Smite any Artifi-Souls that weren't more powerful than Fallen Angels, and weaker Fallen Angels dared not get into her range for fear of being taken out of commission for a mortal lifetime. Even among the unimaginably powerful angels, the number of spirits who could duplicate this feat was one in a million. But while Michael, Gabriel and their Archangel peers were able to leave long lasting damage to their opponents due to their overwhelming power, Achotel used her opponent's own energy amplified with her own to deal damage directly to the portion of the soul that allowed spiritual beings to do battle. Achotel gained the title of Indefatigable because despite being much weaker without her special weapon than her rank suggested, she could permanently Smite Artifi-Souls until the mission was over unless she was taken out by Enemy forces.

But as good as she was at putting dents into the ranks of the Powers of Darkness, Achotel's time was better spent in refreshing her allies. Her syringe would extract an amount of energy from Achotel's fellow members of the Heavenly Host but return twice the taken energy. Unlike with Artifi-Souls and Fallen Angels, Achotel didn't have to use any of her energy to extract the Spiritual Power from allies, so she could give the Heavenly Host a recharge at twice the rate she could deal damage to the Enemy.

Achotel was a streak of feathers and glorious light as she was darted to injured or exhausted allies whenever there was an opening. While her strength and defenses were far below the norm for her rank, her speed was among the highest of those in the O-9 class. The Indefatigable medic gave Safrenitel a shot in the arm, replenishing her energy enough to repair the injuries from her bout with Haures and even the scrapes and scratches in her Soul-Force Armament kite shield.

The angelic medic was about to treat a platoon of angels that had taken considerable damage against a company of Fallen Angels when a two meter long mouth bit one of her would-be patients in half. It belonged to a mastiff-like head. Achotel performed an acrobatic back flip and somersault to avoid being similarly split in half by a griffin's beak. It was clear to the Indefatigable Surgeon General that the forces sent to relieve the injured platoon hadn't managed to keep the one who had given the platoon their injuries in the first place. A tsunami of orange flames quickly burned up the other members of the platoon who had been in need of a recharge before they could rejoin the battle.

" _-him-"_

Achotel the Indefatigable turned a glare towards the two sources of the attacks. The vastly larger one possessed a dragon's body with three heads, one of a dog, one of a griffin, and the other of a dragon. The entire creature was twenty meters from the tip of the center head's snout to the tail, made of a rusty material that sparked indicating it was an psycho-mechanical construct held together by multiple beings not unlike Baal-Berith's mount. Achotel knew the main individual in control was the archdemon Buné. If Achotel focused hard enough, she could make out said demon's features; a definitively female individual with shoulder-length straight black hair with dark slanted eyes, tan complexion and black wings in the center of the mass.

The other individual rode a viper as wide as a rhinoceros and as long as a school bus, armored in dozens of metallic rectangular containers marked with an icon that featured a smiley face inside a flame. The smiley had a halo and two 'X's for eyes, obviously representing an angel. The gigantic serpent's rider carried a large flamethrower, from which belched rivers of noxious orange flames. The Fallen Angel had three heads that faced 120 degrees from each other. The head that faced forward was that of a very handsome man with twin stars on his forehead and light blonde hair, a serpent's head to his right side and a calf to the left. Achotel identified the rider as the archdemon Aim. The angelic medic tilted her head to the side and brought two fingers to her perfect lips, a pensive expression on her face before she spoke up.

"Just the two of you?" Achotel inquired. "I would have thought given the lack of Prayer Cover in this battle, your side could have at least spared the usual level of assailants. If it was Haborym in Aim's form, I'd be in trouble, but you're just a placeholder, albeit a powerful one. I actually feel a little bit insulted. Am I not considered worth the effort anymore?"

Said placeholder let out a hiss of loathing through his metaphysical mount. "Cocky little -, aren't you? Just because you've got a fancy epithet to your name, you think you can just dismiss us."

"I'm not saying that you wouldn't be able to hold me to a stalemate." Achotel the Indefatigable said in a consoling tone. "I'm just used to being a priority target whenever I step onto the battlefield. However, a fight between myself and the two of you isn't one that will end quickly either way. I'm a class faster than either of you, but my attack and defenses are more or less equal to either of you."

"Indeed. However, without that bloody Prayer Cover of your side, taking you out is much less of a priority. Besides, this isn't going to be a very long battle, so your impact on the outcome is considerably less than in the usually protracted battles. It is enough that you not be allowed to recharge the more capable combatants and not leave long lasting injuries to the mainstay of the Infernal Legions." Buné sneered from within her psycho-mechanical battle suit. "When you have Prayer Cover, the baseline of how much energy you can extract using that bloody weapon of yours is appreciably greater. Without it, I doubt you'll be able to pierce my dragon's armor like you did the last time we did battle. I've made plenty of improvements in the mortal centuries since we fought."

"If you have to boast about your improvements, you haven't become so much more formidable that improvement would be self-evident, and not enough that you would be able to surprise me if I thought you were more or less the same as last we did battle." Achotel said airily, brushing her bangs casually with the hand that wasn't holding her bow.

"Aim's right, you are a cocky little -. I'm telling you I've improved because it would hardly bring me any glory if I took you unaware given how superior my dragon form is from the last time we clashed. With Aim's help taking you on, it would hardly be credited as taking out an O-9 enemy." The rust-clad three headed dragon charged towards the Surgeon General, and indeed had improved than the last instance Achotel the Indefatigable had engaged Buné.

The angelic battlefield medic grudgingly admitted to herself that she would have been hurt if she hadn't prepared herself to react to a much faster enemy than what she knew of Buné. Not that the gigantic psycho-mechanical construct was fast enough to catch her, but she would have had to fly straight into a sea of fetid flames that Aim had projected in her escape path. Since she had been on the alert however, she had been able to release a spray from her syringe to clear a path through the hellfire. Almost immediately after getting through the reeking inferno Achotel spun around 165 degrees and drew her bow quick enough for syringe to extract enough of the Spiritual Power inside a beach ball-sized blast Buné's psycho-mechanical dragon had spat so that the damage was negligible.

 _"-off!"_

A horrendous cacophony rose from the Infernal Legion as the corpse of James Potter slumped to the floor of the cottage in Godric's Hollow. The Powers of Darkness rallied with renewed ferocity at the boost of moral. Some of the Fallen Angels and the more intelligent Artifi-Souls even began to burst into song. The recent mortal smash hit Another One Bites the Dust was played with the instrumental variety of a symphony orchestra. It would have been a musical performance to die for if the performers didn't convey such hellish malice over their otherwise heavenly vocals and instruments.

While the Infernal Legions were celebrating as much as they could while still engaging in battle, the Heavenly Host's spirits sunk, and metaphysical tears streamed down many a face. Many a mortal could have showered by the tears shed by the cherubim. Death was such an ugly thing to the angels, so greatly opposed to the order of how The Creator had intended. Despite their heavy hearts, they fought on. They had to win this battle so that the Gospel could be reintroduced to the Wizarding World. The Battle for the Soul of Harry Potter had only just begun. 

[1] and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. **1 Peter 3:21 NIV**. This story takes it more than a bit too literally. Baptism isn't something that makes your life instantly hardship-proof, but I wanted a canon excuse for making one of the largest canon deviations I think you'll find on Fanfiction.

[i] The term Prayer Cover is borrowed from the works of Frank E. Peretti, as are Guilo the Strength of Many and Tal Captain of the Host

[ii] PP&F = Past Present & Future

[iii] Fun fact: Shade is a phonetic pronunciation of the Hebrew word for demon used in Deuteronomy 32:17 לַש

[299] 299 Title: All Who Believe and Are Baptized

Author: Thomas H. Kingo, Translator: George A. T. Rygh,

[280] CHRISTIAN WORSHIP, A Lutheran Hymnal, 280 Thy Strong Word, Text Martin H. Franzmann, Tune Thomas J Williams. Text © 1969 Concordia Publishing House


End file.
